Our leadership team

Mr. Olczak was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Philip Morris International (PMI) in May 2021. Prior to this appointment, he served as PMI’s Chief Operating Officer from January 2018, having formerly been Chief Financial Officer, beginning in August 2012. Mr. Olczak is committed to delivering PMI’s smoke-free future and expanding the company’s product portfolio beyond nicotine. He has been a key driver of the company’s commercial transformation, turning a primarily business-to-business company into an increasingly business-to-consumer company. Throughout his nearly three-decade career with PMI, Mr. Olczak has established deep institutional and industry knowledge and awareness of PMI’s products, systems, and values—as well as a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory environment in which PMI operates. Mr. Olczak began his career with PMI in 1993. He started in finance and general management positions across Europe, including as Managing Director of PMI’s markets in Poland and Germany and as President of the European Union Region, before being appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2012. Prior to joining PMI, Mr. Olczak worked for BDO Binder. Mr. Olczak holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Lodz, Poland.

Mr. Azinovic became President, Middle East & Africa and PMI Duty Free in January 2018. He joined Philip Morris Asia Limited in March 2009 as Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Philip Morris International’s Asia Region. He became President of Philip Morris Japan in July 2011, a position he held until July 31, 2012, when he was named President of the European Union Region. In July 2015, he became President, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa and PMI Duty Free. From 1997 until 2009, Mr. Azinovic held a variety of positions at Altadis and, after the acquisition of Altadis in 2008, at Imperial Tobacco. Previously, Mr. Azinovic had worked at Procter & Gamble. Mr. Azinovic received a law degree from the University of Alcalá in Spain, and an MBA from Saint Louis University in Missouri U.S.

Mr. Barth became Senior Vice President, Commercial in January 2018. Mr. Barth joined PMI in 1990 as a Marketing Trainee at Philip Morris Germany. From 1992 until 2002, he held positions in marketing, product management, brand supervision, and group management. In 2002, Mr. Barth became Marketing Director for Philip Morris Spain and, two years later, Sales Director for Philip Morris Germany. He was then appointed Managing Director, Philip Morris Benelux. In 2011, Mr. Barth became Managing Director, Philip Morris Germany. He was appointed Senior Vice President, Marketing & Sales in 2015, a position he held until his current appointment. Mr. Barth holds a degree in economics from Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.

Mr. de Rooij was named Vice President, Treasury and Corporate Finance in December 2016. Mr. de Rooij joined Philip Morris Holland in 1987 as Assistant Treasurer. From 1994 to 1998, he served as Assistant Cash Manager at the European Treasury Center of Philip Morris Companies in Zug, Switzerland. Between 1998 and 2001, Mr. de Rooij worked as Regional Treasurer for the Philip Morris Eastern European region. He then held various positions in PMI’s Group Treasury from 2002 to 2013, before he became Director, Treasury and Corporate Finance. Mr. de Rooij holds a degree in Business Economics from the University of Breda (H.E.A.O.), The Netherlands.

Ms. Rich Folsom became Senior Vice President and General Counsel in July 2020. Ms. Folsom is an accomplished C-suite executive and attorney with deep experience advising management and boards of directors. She joined Philip Morris International in July 2020 with a combination of corporate, legal, and international business expertise. A veteran general counsel and governance leader, she has broad experience leading organizations through transformations and restructurings. Previously, as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and SVP of Government Affairs and Global Public Policy at U.S. Steel, Ms. Folsom spearheaded the successful fair trade campaign to reinvigorate the steel industry and oversaw the company’s legal, compliance, and labor relations groups, in addition to leading the operational performance of the company’s real estate division. At AIG, she played a critical role in the company’s response to the financial crisis as Chief Regulatory and Compliance Officer and Deputy General Counsel. Earlier, Ms. Folsom was Counselor to the President and Director of Institutional Integrity at the World Bank; served as the General Counsel who drove transformation at ACADEMI post-scandal; was the private secretary to the Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; and held key roles with more than one U.S. presidential first family. The recipient of multiple awards for legal and governance contributions, Ms. Folsom was named a Top 50 General Counsel by The National Law Journal and received the U.K.-based Women in Compliance 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award. She has also been recognized for her unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion. Ms. Folsom holds degrees from Georgetown University Law Center and Duke University and has served on both private and public company boards.

Ms. Kennedy became President, South & Southeast Asia Region in January 2018. Ms. Kennedy began her career with Philip Morris USA in 1995 as a Territory Sales Manager. She held a number of positions of increasing responsibility in the sales organization until becoming Vice President, Sales, Southeast Region in Atlanta in 2006. In 2010, Ms. Kennedy joined PMI’s Operations Center in Lausanne as Vice President, Sales Strategy, and in April 2013 Area Vice President, Southeast Europe. Ms. Kennedy served as Managing Director for Germany, Austria, Croatia, and Slovenia from 2015 until her current appointment. Ms. Kennedy received a bachelor's degree in Sociology and Cultural Anthropology from Randolph College in the United States, and an Executive MBA from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Mr. Kunst became Senior Vice President, Commercial Transformation in January 2019. Prior to joining Philip Morris International, Mr. Kunst was a Senior Partner of consulting firm Bain & Company in Munich since 2009. He was leading Bain’s Healthcare Practice in EMEA and has worked with a broad set of clients on issues of growth strategy, commercial capability building, change management and organizational effectiveness. Before his tenure at Bain & Company, Mr. Kunst was a partner at Monitor Company from 1998 to 2009. He served as Head of Planning and Reporting at Arcor from 1996 to 1998. Mr. Kunst holds a Master of Business Administration Degree from European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel in Germany. He has studied both in Europe and the USA.

Mr. Li became Chief Product Officer in August 2019. Before joining PMI, Mr. Li spent nearly a decade at HARMAN International in Shenzhen in China, where he progressed through several roles as general manager and vice president for various functions in consumer product development and operations. He had started his career as a software engineer for Brother International Corporate in 1996, and worked in various engineering positions in the technology sector in the U.S. until 2004. In 2004, Mr. Li went back to China to join Philips Consumer Electronics. After two years as a manager at Philips Consumer Electronics, Mr. Li served as CEO of HongEn Education from 2006 to 2009. In his role as PMI’s Chief Product Officer, he is responsible for the development of our innovative smoke-free product pipeline and related technology strategies, continuous improvement and extensions of existing platforms and the manufacturing of our electronic devices. Mr. Li has a bachelor's degree in Engineering from Tsinghua University. He also holds a master’s degree in Computer Science from Colorado State University, as well as an MBA from Kellogg-HKUST Executive MBA.

Mr. Masseroli became President, Latin America & Canada Region in July 2018. Mr. Masseroli joined Philip Morris Argentina in 1998 and served in a variety of roles in Argentina, Switzerland and New York. He was named Managing Director, Guatemala in 2006, followed by his appointment as Director, Corporate Affairs for PMI Spain in 2007. Mr. Masseroli was named Vice President, Corporate Affairs Latin America & Canada in 2009. He then went on to become Managing Director, Spain and Canary Islands in 2012, adding responsibility for Portugal in April 2016, a position he held until his current appointment. Mr. Masseroli received a bachelor’s degree from the Torcuato di Tella University in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

Ms. Muenster became Chief Diversity Officer in March 2020. Ms. Muenster joined PMI in 2011 as Director, Market and Consumer Research before being appointed Vice President, Market Research in 2012, a position she held until her current appointment. Prior to PMI, Ms. Muenster spent 12 years in leading research roles at The Coca-Cola Company, four years at Apollinaris & Schweppes and four years at Marbert Kosmetik. Ms. Muenster began her career at Research International and holds a degree in Mathematics from Ruhr University, Bochum in Germany.

Ms. Salzman became Senior Vice President, Global Communications in April 2018. Prior to joining Philip Morris International, Ms. Salzman headed Havas PR North America since 2009. She first held the position of President and then became Havas PR’s Chief Executive Officer in 2011. She co-created and chaired the Global Collective, the Havas PR operation across several continents. Ms. Salzman was Chief Marketing Officer at PR firm Porter Novelli from 2008 to 2009, CMO at JWT Worldwide from 2005 to 2008, and Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Euro RSCG Worldwide (Havas) from 2001 to 2004. In the early 1990s, she co-founded CyberDialogue, where she pioneered the use of online focus groups for social research. Ms. Salzman holds a degree in sociology and graduated with honors from Brown University.

Mr. Verdeaux became Senior Vice President, External Affairs in September 2020. Mr. Verdeaux joined Philip Morris International from Hering Schuppener, where he was a partner. Prior to this position, he was Group International Policy Director at Vodafone from 2014 to 2019. In this role, he built up a new team focusing on enabling the company with integrated regulatory strategies, and oversaw the coordination of policy, lobbying, antitrust, compliance, and other activities while supporting markets in Europe, Africa and Asia. He was European policy director at Electricité De France (EDF) between 2011 and 2014. He served as Deputy Head of Cabinet for the President of France from 2008 to 2011. Mr. Verdeaux held several positions at the United Nations from 2005 to 2008. He served as Europe and Legal adviser to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2005. Prior to this position, he was a Cabinet adviser at the European Commission since 2001. He was Administrator of the French Senate between 1998 and 2000, and adviser to the French Minister for European Affairs from 1995 to 1997. Mr. Verdeaux holds degrees from Université d’Auvergne, University of Oklahoma, and Sciences Po.