Preliminary Agenda

Day 1 | 9 September

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Opening Keynote: Kingsley Wheaton, Chief Growth Officer, British American Tobacco

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Module: The Brave New World: Global Supply & Trade in 2026 and Beyond: An expansive look at the current state of global supply chains, international trade, and related issues combined with prospective analysis of future trends. Panelists and keynotes will discuss issues related to different sectors of the global supply and value chain. Discussions will also focus on the current state of international trade and business with analysis of emerging and current geopolitical issues and market dynamics.

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Panel: Global Supply Chain: Challenges & Opportunities for Suppliers to the Industry: Hear from the trade experts and executives throughout the global supply chain on current and future trends, challenges, and perspectives.

Moderator: Laura Leigh Oyler, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Haypp Group

Confirmed Speakers:

• Przemyslaw Pitura, Global Head of Procurement, Chemnovatic
• Ross Kirsh, CEO and Founder, Dymapak
• Rahul Mathew, Director of Sales, Leaf N Beyond

Panel: Surviving in a Global Trade System: An expansive international trade-focused panel that will cover cross-border concerns from multi-national companies on issues such as taxes, tariffs, movement of goods and services across borders and trade zones, and labor concerns.

Moderator: Chris Greer, Senior Vice President for Regulatory and External Affairs, Stryk Brands

Confirmed Speakers:

• Markus Lindblad, Head of Legal and External Affairs, Haypp Group
• Tadas Lisauskas, President and Co-founder, Greenbutts‍
• Chris Gemmell, Chief Product and Innovation Officer, Greentank Technologies

Keynote: Jennifer Motles, Chief Sustainability Officer, Philip Morris International

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Module: Quiet Transformation: Climate & Environment: The often overlooked success story of the past decades’ of industry transformation is the fact that the tobacco and nicotine industry remains rooted firmly in an agricultural supply chain. This grounding engenders a responsibility from the industry that has been taken quite seriously; seen quiet successes; and provides case studies for other industries. Learn the story of our industry’s successes in stewardship of the environment and the contrasting policy world where industry works more collaboratively within global frameworks.

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Module Opening Keynote: Ben Dessart, Vice President of External Affairs, Universal Corporation

Panel: Innovative Responses to Climate Change & Global Climate Policy: Explore the latest trends in climate policy, industry-government partnerships, and the innovative and transformative programs launched by nicotine industry participants.

Confirmed Speakers: 

• Ben Dessart, Vice President of External Affairs, Universal Corporation
• Miranda Kinney, Senior Vice President of Global Communications and Sustainability, Pyxus International
• Aylen Van Isseldyk, Co-Founder and Director, THR, Ethics, and Sustainability

InFocus Talk: Big Data:

• Marina Murphy, Head of External Affairs UK & Scientific Affairs, Haypp Group

Day 2 | 10 September

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Module: Illicit Trade: The Other Risk Needing Reduction: Illicit trade has traditionally been seen as a brand protection or state revenue issue. But the truth is far more complex: Illicit trade in tobacco and nicotine products not only frustrates public health goals, fuels criminal and terroristic organizations, dilutes markets, and disincentivizes compliance, but it also distorts risk calculations. Cheap illicit goods flood markets, leading to policy action and market conditions that create incentives to proliferate illicit trade and drive consumers back to combustion. This module examines illicit trade through the lens of risk reduction and seeks to spark new solutions that fit the current environment. 

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Module Opening Keynote: US Illicit Trade: Lillian Ortega, Owner and Chief Regulatory Strategist, WOW Solutions

Panel: Playing Defense: – Brand Protection and its Impact on Harm Reduction and Consumers: Global professionals from the largest companies deal with brand integrity and protection issues on a daily basis. Copycats do more than violate IP rights -learn how the fight to protect brand integrity is intricately linked to public health goals, nicotine (mis)perception, and the fight for harm reduction.

Moderator: Lillian Ortega, Owner and Chief Regulatory Strategist, WOW Solutions

Confirmed Speakers:

Abel Vecino, Head of Illicit Trade Prevention for Southwest Europe, Philip Morris International

Michael Horowitz, Managing Counsel, Commercial, RAI Services Company

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Panel: Troubled Waters: A tale of two approaches across the Tasmin Straight - Australia/New Zealand: You hear about the contrasting approaches from two close neighbors everywhere. But the ANZAC experience is more than a thought exercise. GTNF is proud to platform the heads of the two main retailer groups in Australia and New Zealand to hear about the real state of play, the contrasts, and the struggles ahead.

Moderator: Beth Oliva, Partner, Fox Rothschild

Confirmed Speakers:

• Theo Foukkare, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Association of Convenience Stores
• David Hooker, Executive Director, New Zealand Association of Convenience Stores

Module: THE Ultra Marathon - Innovation in Science, Tech, and Products: Every conference you attend talks about "innovation’"and, frankly, we often find it to be a cliché. At GTNF, we’re doing something about that. Innovation is a marathon fueled not by health bars but by Moore’s law. It is a natural source of tension generated by the yawning gap between policy and natural tech evolution. GTNF takes you through a consequential look at innovation. Covering everything from product stewardship advances, product development, utilization of data, to AI;. GTNF covers it all.  

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Module Opening Keynote: Eve Wang, Executive Director of Smoore International and Vice-President of Shenzhen Smoore Technology  

Innovation 360 from Three Unique Perspectives: Established Industry, Up & Comers; and Supporting Industry: Three panels with three different perspectives on the impacts, challenges, and opportunities of innovation. Hear from different segments of the tobacco and nicotine industry on not only the latest in innovation – but the "what",’‘how", and "why" of innovation. What are the key challenges and opportunities present in today’s market and what forces outside of product development, science and R&D are impacting what, where, and how industry undertakes innovation? How product science and stewardship advance will change products and consumer preferences. Why change is not only inevitable but necessary.

Panel: Established Industry

Moderator: Eve Wang, Executive Director of Smoore International and Vice-President of Shenzhen Smoore Technology

Confirmed Speakers:

‍Clio Boura, Vice President, Head of Science Operations, British American Tobacco

Yu Kang, Head of the Research Institute, Hangsen International Group

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 Keynote: Roberto Sussman, Associate Professor, Universidad Mexico (virtual)

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Panel: Innovation 360 – Up & Comers

• Moderator: Anna Franzen, Clinical & Regulatory Business Development Officer, Emplicure Consumer AB
• Confirmed Speakers:
• Martin Miller, Executive Vice President, IKE Tech
• Fredrik Laurell, Chief Executive Officer, Nicoccino
• Ryan Selby, Managing Director, Emerald Innovations
• Ronan Barry, Chief Legal & Corporate Affairs Officer, AIR Global

Panel: Innovation 360 – Supporting Industry

• Moderator: Sarah Marking, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Sanova
• Confirmed Speakers:
• Chris Allen, Chief Executive Officer, Broughton Life Sciences
• Dean Cirotta, President, EAS Consulting Group
• Tim Phillips, Managing Director, Tamarind Intelligence
• Sairah Salim-Sartoni, Managing Director, Salim-Sartoni Associates Ltd

Day 3 | 11 September

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Module: Risk & Harm Reduction Full Story: For 20 years, the nicotine industry has been undergoing a risk and harm reduction transformation as established players and innovative start-ups seek to transition the world’s 1 billion nicotine consumers away from the highest risk products. Driven by technology, ethics, and business realities, all stakeholders contribute to the debate about harm reduction. But what is it - at a social level, how good are societies in managing risk not just with tobacco? Where are we on the road to real harm reduction within nicotine, and how is harm reduction being implemented next around the world? 

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Panel: Clinician’s Summit: An in-depth exploration of risk and harm reduction from practicing clinicians that covers comparative and contrasting approaches among multiple issues from obesity, diet, illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco use.

Moderator: TBD

Confirmed Speakers:

• Jasjit Ahluwalia, Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Professor of Medicine, Brown University
• Riccardo Polosa, Full Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Catania, and Founder of CoEHAR
• Timothy Vermillion, Consultant, Educator, and Mental Health Provider, Founder of Paradise Institute

Leader Keynote: Maria Gogova, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Altria Client Services

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Panel: TPD: Science Behind Legislation to Reduce Harm: TPD3 is one of the biggest headlines in tobacco and nicotine policy. Behind the punditry and headlines and clickable content is the important work of empirical evidence supporting regulations. This panel will examine the state of science and evidence and its impact on TPD3. 

• Moderator: Sud Patwardhan, Physician, Innovative Health Tech, Global Health Consortium
• Confirmed Speakers:
• ‍Peter Beckett, Partner, Six Three One
• Nathalie Darge, Secretary General, Tobacco Europe
• Konstantinos Farsalinos, Physician and Senior Researcher, University of Patras, School of Public Health
• Jesus Olivares Guerrero, EU Corporate Affairs Manager, Imperial Brands

Panel: The Forgotten Smoker: This panel will put the “Forgotten Smoker” at the center of an equity question: As smoking rates fall, the remaining harm is increasingly concentrated among adults facing the toughest barriers to quitting—or to switching away from cigarettes. In many countries, smoking-related disease is becoming a concentrated problem—carried disproportionately by adults who are hardest to reach with traditional cessation models. The barriers are familiar: financial stress, limited healthcare access, confusing or low-trust information environments, rural/remote geographies, and other structural constraints. This session compares what happens in very different settings: markets where smoke-free alternatives are restricted or banned, and markets where products may be legal but still effectively out of reach because of cost, misinformation, or gaps in support. The goal is a practical discussion of what sustainable tobacco control looks like when the metric is near-term disease reduction—responsible access, affordability, accurate information, and programs designed to reach the adults who are currently being left behind.

Moderator: Joe Williams, Senior Manager, Regulatory Engagement, Altria Client Services

Confirmed Speakers:

• Brian Erkkila, Director, External Affairs & Head of Scientific Engagement, Philip Morris International US
• Dave Dobbins, Principal Consultant, Dobbins Consulting

Panel: New Approaches to Harm Reduction: THR is awash in variables — dispirited populations, geographies, and cultures combined with the fact that harm reduction is multi-faceted and encompasses everything from social and environmental impacts to individual and population health — and this diversity cannot be managed as a global one-size-fits-all solution. From unintended consequences to outright frustration of public health goals, failing to adapt, learn, and change approaches to THR has real consequences. This panel explores new approaches around the globe that are making progress, providing learning opportunities from adoption elsewhere, or are efforts worthy of a global stage.

• Moderator: Mohammadi Sarkar, Altria Client Services
• Confirmed Speakers:‍
• Joseph Magero, Chairman, Campaign for Safer Alternatives
• Sairah Salim-Sartoni, Managing Director, Salim-Sartoni Associates Ltd‍
• Valerie Solomon, Vice President, Scientific & Public Health Affairs, RAI Services Company
• ‍Juan Facundo Teme, Co-founder, THR, Ethics, and Sustainability

Panel: The Ban Wagon Effect: Do Bans Work: Product category, flavor, birthdates — are bans effective or simply creating new problems? Does legislating a ban get rid of a problem? Bans are being proposed around the world in innovative and traditional forms: phased illegalization based on date of birth, constriction of product attributes and sales channels, and, of course, outright prohibitions. Measures are gaining traction from one geography to another. But if we dive deeper, what is a ban, and what does it actually do? Bans are simple and easy to package to constituents: Because of X, we are banning Y. Simple messaging often belies more complexity in an issue hiding below the surface. This panel explores that complexity from why bans come about, what's standardized, and what's unique to them, and, most importantly, to their highly complex effects: incentivization of illicit markets to satisfy demand; economic impacts from resource diversion for enforcement to losses throughout the value chain; and frustration of overarching THR and wider public health goals tied to consumer demand shifts to illicit products, backsliding to less harm-reduced ones, and social costs of the "illicitization" of products. 

Moderator: Jessica Zdinak, Founder and Chief Research Officer, Applied Research and Analysis Company
Confirmed Speakers:

• Alastair Mackay, Director Regulatory, Policy, Philip Morris International London Office
• Chad Jones, Owner and Content Creator, Snubie.com‍
• Jeff Stier, Senior Fellow, Taxpayers Protection Alliance
• Eveline Van Keymeulen, Partner, Latham & Watkins’ Brussels and Paris, and Global Vice Chair, Latham & Watkins’ Healthcare & Life Sciences Practice

Closing Harm Reduction Reaction Panel 

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