Tobacco Business

[ 28 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ JANUARY / FEBRUARY | 22 ] “I enjoyed working for a family-run small business where when you make changes there’s not this corporate hierarchy to deal with and you can see the change when you walk the manufacturing floor,” he says. “You can really touch and feel what you’re manufacturing and make changes that are relevant.” There were plenty of recruiters in the Richmond area seeking out job candidates like McKenna. One reached out to him with an opportunity at a small business in the city named Sutliff Tobacco Company. At first, McKenna turned down the opportunity. “I said, ‘No, I’m happy where I’m at. I haven’t been here that long. I’m not a job hopper. I was at my first job for 10 years, my next one for almost five. I’m here, it’s a good role; I think I’ll stick it out.’ The guy called me back and said, ‘No, they really want to meet with you and see exactly what you want. It’s family-owned.’ I said, ‘OK, fine. I’ll take the interview.’ So I went in for an interview for the CFO [chief financial officer] role and met with my predecessor, Phill Green. We hit it off immediately. He liked what I had to offer! He told me how the tobacco industry was a fun industry. He basically made me an offer that afternoon, and I took it and trusted him that the tobacco industry was fun, and it has been.” The transition from different types of manufacturing to the tobacco industry was full of learning curves and a few surprises. From a manufacturing standpoint, McKenna found out quickly there was always something to learn. Coming from a manufacturing background, McKenna went to work on understanding how and why Sutliff Tobacco Company's original focus was pipe tobacco. Today, in addition to pipe tobacco, Sutliff Tobacco Company is also a distributor of other tobacco products and accessories. The rest of my job is really looking at trends in the industry—how we’re doing, how different categories that we compete in are doing, coming up with ideas to grow, gain a competitive edge and really just trying to come up with some new ideas for an old industry. —Jeremy McKenna “ ” Sutliff Tobacco Company made its products and looked for ways to make the process more efficient. It took him a couple of months to get up to speed on Sutliff’s manufacturing practice and its business. As time went on, the one thing that continued to surprise McKenna was the fact that competitors within the tobacco industry were friendly