Alison Cooper
Alison Cooper was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Imperial Tobacco in May 2010.[1]
She succeeded Gareth Davis.
On 3 October 2019, it was announced that Cooper would step down “once a suitable successor is found”.[2] The announcement came after the company issued a profit warning that reduced the company’s anticipated revenue growth.[3]
Contents
Background
Cooper joined Imperial in 1999, after a career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in acquisitions and strategy planning.[4]
She held several senior roles in Imperial Tobacco before becoming the company’s CEO:[5]
- Chief Operating Officer (2009)
- Corporate Development Director (2007)
- Western Europe sales and marketing director (2005)
- Group financial controller (2001)
- Group finance manager (1999)
When Cooper took up the top job in 2010, she was quoted in The Telegraph as saying:
- “We need a change in mindset. Tobacco has been traditional in the way it has operated. We want to move from being a tobacco manufacturer to a FMCG [fast moving consumer goods] company”.[6]
In line with Cooper’s vision, Imperial Tobacco renamed itself Imperial Brands in 2016.[7]
Controversies
Failed Pay Increase
In January 2017, amidst societal concerns about large bonus pay-outs to company bosses[8], Imperial Tobacco shareholders blocked plans to give Cooper a £3million pay rise.[9]
The plans would have seen Cooper gain bonus opportunities which allegedly would have increased her salary from £5.5million to £8.5million.
Imperial’s chairman, Mark Williamson explained Imperial’s U-turn on Cooper’s salary by saying that ‘investors had changed their mind about backing the plans’.[9]
Cooper herself did not comment on the pay rise issue.
Plain Packaging: “This is not a health issue at all. This is anti-business”
In 2012, Cooper openly attacked plans by the UK Government to introduce tobacco plain packaging measures.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Cooper said. “It’s not just a tobacco issue any more, it’s about government’s role…[and] a precedent for other businesses in terms of this is where governments can go. This is not about a health issue at all. This is anti-business."[10]
Cooper's comments led one Financial Times commentator, Michael Skapinker, to reply:
"When Alison Cooper, chief executive of Imperial Tobacco, says that forcing tobacco companies to sell cigarettes in plain packets is not about health but is just anti-business, every other business person should tell her not to taint them with her death and disease-ridden trade."[11]
TobaccoTactics Resources
Relevant Link
Notes
- ↑ Imperial Brands, Alison Cooper, BSC, ACA, Chief Executive, company website, undated, accessed June 2017
- ↑ Imperial Brands, Imperial Brands Chief Executive Officer to Step Down, Imperials Brands website, 3 October 2019, accessed October 2019
- ↑ Imperial Brands, Pre-close Trading Update, Imperials Brands website, 26 September 2019, accessed October 2019
- ↑ Radio Four Woman’s Hour, Alison Cooper CE Imperial Tobacco, BBC, undated, accessed June 2017
- ↑ J. Ashton, Interview: Imperial Tobacco chief Alison Cooper – ‘Display bans are a drag but I will keep sparking up bigger profits’, The Evening Standard, 6 June 2014, accessed June 2017
- ↑ Alison Cooper: lighting up Imperial Tobacco, The Telegraph, 21 March 2010, accessed June 2017
- ↑ G. Ruddick, Imperial Tobacco plans to drop tobacco…from its name, The Guardian, 15 December 2015, accessed June 2017
- ↑ Why business needs to gets its house in order over bosses pay, The Independent, 12 June 2017, accessed June 2017
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 J. Treanor, Tobacco giant Imperial Brands rethinks CEO’s pay rise after revolt, The Guardian, 26 January 2017, accessed June 2017
- ↑ C. Thompson, Imperial head fumes over plain packaging, Financial Times, 7 May 2012
- ↑ M. Skapinker, Cigarette Companies Versus the Plain Truth, Financial Times, 17 May 2012