Tobacco Business

[ 44 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ MAY / JUNE | 21 ] “Talent is everything, no matter where or how people come into the organization. It’s the heartbeat of a company, and so is the culture,” says Austin. “In the office, we have an agency-like vibe on the com- mercial and marketing end. It’s very entrepreneurial, with a more structured ‘large company’ back end in finance, operations and man- ufacturing. It is well-balanced, and that was enabled by the people and culture that we have at Davidoff.” As the years went by, Austin’s role within Davidoff continued to evolve and become more of a leadership position, calling on him to also change and adapt to the new responsibilities. As a leader, Austin realized there was constantly something to learn, and that a good leader, much like his mentor Sal Fontana, can never be fully satisfied with their work. In 2019, Austin was named as the president of Davidoff of Americas, succeeding James “Jim” Young, who had been promoted to the role of Davidoff’s chief commercial officer. At the time of this new promotion and chapter of his career, Austin understood that he had big shoes to fill and a great amount of responsibility in terms of preserving the Davidoff brand and legacy. There was also a lot of work that had to be done in order to take Davidoff into the future. In order to move forward, Austin also realized he would have to rely on the team he had built to fully embrace his new role and responsibilities as Davidoff of Americas’ president. “It was challenging to still hold my marketing and commercial leadership roles on top of the new position for the first six months,” says Austin. “There were a lot of late nights, and my motor had to run faster than before until I was able to put in place new leadership to free me up.” There was a lot happening at one time, but Austin was up for the challenge of leading Davidoff into a new era. Immediately after accepting the promotion, Austin worked on a complete restructuring of the company as well as implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that would help organize the company’s day- to-day business activity. All of these changes had a common goal of taking Davidoff, and its brands, boldly into the future. “Today, the need for change and evolution has been accelerated tenfold, and business is moving way faster, even though the world has been moving slower due to the pandemic,” he says. “We have a pretty wide area of focus and are afforded that ability thanks to the strength of our team. That said, we spend a good part of our day paving the way for the future. Whether it’s new products, how to make operations more efficient, improving our omni-channel experience and perfor- mance, continuing to sculpt the team we have or solving challenges for our retail partners, there’s a fair amount going on.” For Austin, being a good leader comes from empowering those around him. He understands that it’s his job to make sure he’s building a business that’s going to be better than it was when he first assumed control of it. One of the most fulfilling aspects of Austin’s job is As president of Davidoff of Americas, Austin is leading the efforts to take the company and its iconic brands into the future.