Agriculture 2023: GEORGE C. FREEMAN III

A Richmond native, Freeman has been Universal’s CEO since 2008 and president since 2006. From 2001 to 2005, he was the corporation’s general counsel and secretary, and he worked at law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth (then Hunton & Williams) in the early to mid-1990s.

The world’s largest supplier of tobacco leaf, Universal Corp. posted fiscal 2023 net income of $124.1 million, up 43% from 2022. While results for the company’s plant-based ingredients operation were flat, Freeman said in March that he expected the soft margins would be temporary. Freeman also announced Universal would pay an annual common dividend of $3.20, marking the 53rd year in a row the company has increased its dividend payments.

Universal has three divisions: Universal Leaf, which purchases and processes tobacco for sale to tobacco products manufacturers; Universal Ingredients, which produces vegetable and fruit ingredients, flavorings and extracts; and Universal Enterprises, a value-added agricultural business.

The University of Virginia and Yale Law graduate also serves on the boards of Richmond-based Tredegar and the Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia. An avid goose and duck hunter, he is vice chair of the Delta Waterfowl Foundation’s board.