22nd Century Group Names Henry Sicignano III Chief Executive Officer
Business Wire
CLARENCE, N.Y. -- March 3, 2015
The Board of Directors of 22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE MKT:XXII) announced today that Henry Sicignano III has been named to the position of Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Sicignano will continue to serve as the Company’s President and will remain on the Board of Directors.
“The Board of Directors has had the opportunity to work directly with Henry over the past few months and is convinced that there is no better person to lead the company forward,” said James W. Cornell, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Henry is a proven leader with outstanding business development skills, strategic vision and the ability to bring people together. His vision for how 22nd Century will monetize the Company’s proprietary technologies is exactly what 22nd Century needs at this exciting stage in the Company’s growth.”
Since joining the Company as President in 2010, Mr. Sicignano has spearheaded major initiatives across a range of business areas, recently establishing a strategic partnership with Smoker Friendly International, the nation’s largest dealer network of cigarette stores, and securing contract manufacturing and distribution agreements to launch the Company’s MAGIC® brand of cigarettes in Europe. Going forward, Mr. Sicignano has defined 22nd Century’s top priorities as: establishing multi-year international sales contracts for the Company’s proprietary tobacco products (with immediate focus on Asia); submitting to the FDA a Modified Risk Application for the Company’s Brand A very low nicotine cigarettes; and identifying a joint venture partner to fund Phase III clinical trials for X-22, the Company’s smoking cessation aid in development.
“22nd Century is in the rare position of having a virtual monopoly around the nicotine biosynthetic pathway in the tobacco plant; I am honored and tremendously excited to have been chosen to lead the Company as we begin to commercialize our extraordinary IP portfolio,” Mr. Sicignano said. “As the tobacco industry begins a true paradigm shift toward the development and commercialization of reduced-risk tobacco products, 22nd Century is uniquely positioned to become a key player in both the smoking harm reduction and the smoking cessation markets. A key part of my job will be to seize these opportunities by focusing our management team and the Company’s business development investments on our technology’s most important commercial applications.”
