Altria Group names new board member connected to Hasbro

Hasbro board chair and the toymaker’s former interim CEO Richard S. Stoddart will join the Altria Group board of directors Monday, the Henrico County-based, Fortune 500 tobacco manufacturer announced Thursday.

Stoddart will serve as a member of the board’s nominating, corporate governance and social responsibility committee, as well as on the audit and innovation committees.

Also Thursday, Altria reported its full-year results for 2024. Revenue was $24 billion, a 1.9% decrease from the previous year. The company attributed the drop to lower revenues in the smokeable products segment, but noted that higher revenues in oral tobacco products segment helped to offset the loss.

In 2024, Altria, which has about 6,400 employees, completed a $3.4 billion share repurchase program, repurchasing 73.5 million shares. The company’s board has authorized a new $1 billion share repurchase program that it expects to complete by the end of 2025.

Among Altria’s operating companies are Philip Morris USA, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, John Middleton and NJOY.

A graduate of Dartmouth College, Stoddart was president and CEO of InnerWorkings, a Chicago marketing firm, from 2018 until 2020 when the company was acquired by HH Global, the British marketing provider. Previously, Stoddart ran Leo Burnett North America, the Chicago-based advertising agency, for 11 years as CEO and president, and became CEO and global president of Leo Burnett Worldwide in 2016.

Stoddart joined the board of toymaker Hasbro in 2014. Following the 2021 death of the company’s longtime leader Brian Goldner, Stoddart served as interim CEO for several months and then stepped into the role of board chair in 2022.