Hae In Kim to take over top HR job at BAT

CHRO South Africa 27 January 2019

Hae In will take over from Giovanni Giordano in April.

Tobacco giant British American Tobacco (BAT) has recently shaken up its executive structure in a move that saw Hae In Kim appointed as Director of Talent and Culture Designate, and successor to current Group HR Director Giovanni Giordano. Hae In, who will take over the top HR job on 1 April, has previously held several senior HR roles within BAT including as Group Head of Talent and Organisational Effectiveness, Regional HR Director Asia-Pacific and HR Director Japan and North Asia.

She has over 20 years of experience in the HR field, having also worked for leading HR consultant firms like PwC and onHewitt before joining British American Tobacco in 2008.

[chro-cta slug=mondel-z-international-s-cebile-xulu-at-hr-indaba-2020-on-14-15-october-2020]

During Giovanni’s eight years as Group HR Director, he has built a world-class HR team and made great progress in building the capabilities required to enable the acceleration of our transformation ambition.

BAT's announcement of changes to management board also stated, among other things, that current CEO Nicandro Durante would retire after years at the helm to be succeeded by Jack Bowles on 1 April.

Said Nicandro in the aforementioned statement: "We have an established and successful strategy to transform our business and the new roles we are announcing today will enable us to execute this strategy better and faster. (Former Group Business Development Director Naresh Sethi) and Giovanni have been instrumental in the success of our transformation to date and I would like to thank them both for their leadership and significant contributions to the Group and wish them all the best for the future."

CHRO South Africa

From creative to strategic communicator: Why Thuso Khoeli believes organisations need to fix the “broken telephone”

For years, Thuso Khoeli was known primarily as a creative. His work centred on ideas, storytelling, campaigns and brands. But after years of working with organisations, leadership teams and employees, he began to recognise a different challenge, one that was happening far beyond the traditional boundaries of marketing and external communication. The problem was often inside the organisation.

09 October 2026

Empowering women is an investment in the future of work

Women’s empowerment in the workplace is often discussed in the language of representation, targets and transformation. Those measures matter. But they are not the destination; they are evidence of whether we are changing the conditions in which women enter, grow, lead and succeed. The question is no longer whether organisations can afford to invest in women. It is whether they can afford not to.

01 September 2026