James Barrett
I joined BAT in January 1996 as a Management Trainee and to be honest, at that time, knew very little about the Group that was about to shape my career and life over the next 27 years. This journey has taken me all over the world. I have seen things that no boy from a small town in the middle of the UK ever expected to. I sincerely doubt any other Group could have offered this.
As a finance professional, I spent the earlier part of my career travelling around the world, firstly as International Auditor, but then in a succession of leadership team roles in some of BAT’s more challenging markets. I returned to the UK and took on a variety of senior finance functional roles, including Group Finance Controller and Head of Mergers & Acquisitions.
Immediately prior to joining the Management Board, I ran BAT’s Beyond Nicotine division while also overseeing our venturing and M&A activities. One of the amazing things about BAT is the blend of experiences it brings to a career. With the arrogance of a 21-year-old joiner in 1996, I said I would leave when I get bored. I have never been bored. I certainly never thought I’d end up on the Management Board.
I am passionate about the transformation we are going through. Today’s organisation is far removed from the one I joined, but we still have a long way to go, both as a Group and as an industry.
Most important is our people. In particular, diversity - not just of gender and background, but of thought. Embracing new ideas, challenging in an open environment, and testing the untested are principles I’ve tried to adhere to throughout my own journey. You can only do that if the people around you trust and encourage these behaviours and I try and replicate this with those around me. Finally, you spend the majority of your waking life at work. If you’re not enjoying yourself and laughing a lot, you’re doing something wrong.
In Beyond Nicotine, we have had to challenge preconceptions to bring new concepts into being and new products to markets. This has often happened in a very different way to which we are used to operating, and all the time underpinned by solid fact and a new tolerance for the unknown.
That BAT gives us the freedom to operate in this way speaks volumes for the organisation. These are the principles I shall take forward in Business Development.
We will be exploring new approaches, sharpening our delivery and all the time delivering on our commitments today.
A Better Tomorrow™
For me, A Better Tomorrow™ is about changing our impact on society. The product from which we derive the majority of our revenue is harmful. We have to offer an alternative future, not just because the continued existence of BAT is important – to employees, a whole supply ecosystem and our investors, but because the legacy bequeathed to us by our forefathers 120 years ago is worth preserving. This is a huge, impressive Group, with immense capabilities. We can use those capabilities for good, and we should.
Nationality: British
Career to date
- 1996: Management Trainee, British American Tobacco (Staines, Woking, Southampton, Cambridge)
- 1997: Finance and Administration Manager – BAT Corby
- 2000: International Auditor, London
- 2003: Finance Director, West Africa Central – Accra, Ghana
- 2006: M&A Manager, London – UK
- 2007: Area Finance Director, Central & Eastern Europe, London
- 2008: Finance Director, BAT Italia – Rome
- 2008: Finance Director, BAT Middle East – Dubai
- 2010: Group Head of Marketing Finance – London
- 2012: Group Head of Commercial Finance – London
- 2015: Group Head of Mergers & Acquisitions – London
- 2018: Group Finance Controller – London
- 2019: Group Finance Controller & Head of M&A – London
- 2021: Consumer Director, Wellbeing & Stimulation & Head of M&A
- 2023: Appointed as Director, Business Development
Education
- BA Accounting
- Chartered Management Accountant
Personal interests
I live in a 400-year-old house, so my weekends are mostly spent fixing it. I have taught myself plumbing, electrics, woodwork. I really enjoy the challenge of trying to use my brain during the week and my hands during the weekends, and find it oddly relaxing. Aside from that, I help out and advise a number of local businesses where I live, which is very rewarding and actually really helps me contextualise the challenges at a very different end of the scale to that at which BAT operates. Finally, I am happily married with three children (now mostly grown up and at University) and two dogs. I would very much like to say that I run, and do triathlons and stuff like that. But I don’t. The occasional walk with the dogs seems plenty.
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