Kaival Brands Appoints Executive Chairman Barry Hopkins as Interim Chief Executive Officer and President - Seite 2

Recently, the Company has been encouraged by the coordinated efforts of the FDA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other government agencies to increase their coordinated focus on enforcement. The Company believes it has been hurt by illicit vaping products flooding the market, and it is now preparing to scale along with other legal products assuming increased enforcement continues alongside the January announcement by the FDA.

Following his appointment as Chairman of the Board in March 2023, Mr. Hopkins has played an integral role in the re-development of Kaival’s executive leadership team. He is a 40-year tobacco industry veteran with deep operational experience and a long track record of strategic planning and execution, organizational development, and regulatory compliance. He has overseen significant growth in each of his previous roles, including:

• Prior to retiring from Altria as Vice President of National Accounts in 2005, Mr. Hopkins led a team of National Account Executives responsible for more than 50% of Philip Morris’ U.S.A. sales with consecutive market share gains over a three-year period.
  
• As Regional Vice President, he led a sales organization of 600+ people in managing a $1.2 billion operation that consistently exceeded sales and market share and revenue expectations for three consecutive years.
  
• After retiring from Altria, Mr. Hopkins joined Turning Point Brands where he led the post-acquisition operational activities of VaporBeast/Vapor Shark. As acting COO of the combined entities, Mr. Hopkins led his team in achieving revenue growth from $48 million to $98 million in less than eight months.
  
• In his last role at Turning Point Brands, Mr. Hopkins served as Senior Vice President of Executive Organizational Development where he led that company’s senior management team in building the infrastructure for an enhanced performance management system and development of a new strategic planning process with a focus on mission critical initiatives which contributed to eight record-setting quarters in terms of revenue growth.
  

Mr. Hopkins will spearhead the Company under the direction of the Board of Directors with a continued focus on accelerating revenue growth, improving operational efficiencies and executing Kaival Brands’ strategic growth and diversification initiatives, while remaining in compliance with applicable state and federal regulations. The Company, alongside BIDI Vapor (the maker of the BIDI Stick), is also continuing to focus on working with Philip Morris to accelerate the international distribution of ENDS products using BIDI technology (which Philip Morris markets under the brand name “VEEV Now”), as part of Philip Morris’s plan to deliver a smoke-free future.