Industry
Plasencia Cigars Promotes Javier Carranza to U.S. VP of Sales
Javier Carranza, who joined Plasencia in 2016 as it began building its own brands in the U.S., now leads the company's American sales team.
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Plasencia Cigars has promoted Javier Carranza to vice president of sales for the United States. A company spokesperson said the promotion became official last week.
Carranza arrived in 2016 as U.S. national sales director, at a time when the Plasencia family, long known for growing tobacco and making cigars for other brands, was starting to sell cigars under its own name in the American market. Over the past decade he has helped build the sales team, widen distribution and develop relationships with key partners.
In the new role he will lead the U.S. sales organization and its commercial strategy. The company says the focus will be on retailer relationships, growing the sales team and refining how its cigars are distributed, while keeping the brand’s premium position.
Before Plasencia, Carranza worked in sales for Gurkha Cigars, House of Emilio and AJ Fernández.
In the company’s announcement, CEO Ed Bello credited Carranza with helping build the branded business from its earliest days, and Néstor Andrés Plasencia said Carranza believed in the family’s vision from the start.
For smokers, the news is a sign of how far Plasencia’s own brands have come in the U.S. in ten years.