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Walgreens
Pressured
to Bail
on
Cigarettes
Two groups filed a shareholder
proposal asking the board to
review the risks of tobacco sales.
At press time, Deerfield, Illinois-based
Walgreens was deep in the throes of a
battle over whether a proposal for the
chain to stop selling tobacco products at
all 8,173 Walgreens locations should be
on the agenda at the company’s annual
shareholder meeting in January. Share-
holder advocates have been pushing for
the measure, charging that the sale of
tobacco products exposes Walgreens to
financial risks that may undermine share-
holder value.
However, company management is seek-
ing to have the proposal omitted from the
2017 proxy statement. “In our conversa-
tions with the company over the last six
years, we thought management under-
stood the inherent hypocrisy of a self-iden-
tified healthcare company selling a known
lethal agent,” said lead filer Tom McCaney
of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia.
“We were given several indications over
the years that they would be discontinuing
the sale of tobacco and are frankly some-
what mystified as to why it hasn’t happened
yet. The resolution is our attempt to have
a more focused conversation and invite all
shareholders to weigh in on the topic. This
effort to shut down that open discussion
by blocking a vote at the annual meeting is
very discouraging, to say the least.”
SFATA Announces New
Executive Director
Former state legislator Pamela Gorman
will head the Smoke-Free Alternatives
Trade Association.
The Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association (SFA-
TA) has announced that Pamela Gorman will serve as
the organization’s new executive director, replacing
Cynthia Cabrera. In this role, Gorman will lead national
and state advocacy and legislative efforts, oversee
state chapters and represent SFATA with regulatory
agencies, including at industry events; among other
responsibilities.
“Pamela is a perfect fit to lead SFATA against a host
of challenges on the national and state levels, with
strong experience in policy and advocacy, and as an
elected official,” said Cap O’Rourke, president of SFA-
TA’s board of directors. “On behalf of the board, we
look forward to working closely with Pamela to fight
regressive policies that harm the small businesses that
comprise our industry and stifle the potential [effect
that] vapor products can have on helping reduce the
public harm caused by smoking.”
“Building upon the legacy of my predecessor and
leveraging the strength of our organization, I will con-
tinue the fight on behalf of these businesses and the
consumers they serve against industry-destroying
policies and devastating taxes currently facing our
membership,” adds Gorman, who has a wealth of rel-
evant experience, having founded U.S. Vapor, a firm
providing public affairs consulting to small business
owners and advocacy non-profit organizations work-
ing in the vapor industry.
Prior to that, she was director of government rela-
tions for NJOY, where she built the first government
affairs department and program for an independent
(not tobacco-owned) manufacturer. She was respon-
sible for budget development, advocacy, issue com-
munications and execution of key business legislative
initiatives and issue response.
Gorman also previously served as senior manager
of legislative policy and advocacy for RAI Services
Company specializing in policy issue areas related
to tobacco harm reduction, and completed terms as
a state representative in the Arizona House of Repre-
sentatives from 2005 to 2006 and as a state senator in
Arizona from 2007 to 2010. She was part of the senate
leadership team in her last term and served as the Sen-
ate Majority Whip.
Founded in 2012, SFATA has more than 1,400 mem-
bers and 28 chapters located across the country, rep-
resenting online retailers, brick-and-mortar vendors,
distributors, manufacturers, professional service pro-
viders, importers and wholesalers.
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TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
NEWS & TRENDS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016