Universal Corp UVV

Mr. Hentschke was elected Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in April 2015. From January 2013 to April 2015, he served as Executive Vice President of Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Incorporated (Universal Leaf). From November 2009 to January 2013, Mr. Hentschke served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Leaf Tabacos, Limitada, the Company's operating subsidiary in Brazil. He has been employed with the Company and its affiliates since 1991.

Mr. Preston D. Wigner was elected Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Corporation effective October 1, 2024. Previously, he had served as Senior Vice President of Universal Corporation and Executive Vice President of Universal Leaf Tobacco Company (Universal Leaf) from April 1, 2024 until October 1, 2024. Prior to those roles, Mr. Wigner served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Universal Corporation and Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Assistant Secretary of Universal Leaf from November 2005 until April 2024, and served as the Company's Chief Compliance Officer from 2007 to 2012. Mr. Wigner is also Chair of the Universal Leaf Board of Directors and Chairman of Universal Ingredients, Inc. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Wigner served as an associate with the law firms Williams Mullen; and Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP (formerly Hunton & Williams LLP).

Mrs. Claiborne was elected as General Counsel and Secretary effective April 2024. She also has served as Vice President since February 2018 having previously served as Vice President and Assistant Secretary from February 2018 to April 2024. From October 2004 to February 2018, Mrs. Claiborne served as Vice President, Associate General Counsel, and Secretary of Universal Leaf. She has been employed with the Company since December 1999.

Ms. Diana F. Cantor is appointed as Lead Independent Director at AGM on August 4, 2026. Ms. Diana F. Cantor is currently a Partner at Alternative Investment Management, LLC, an independent, privately held investment management firm, a position she has held since January 2010. In that role, she provides executive oversight as a member of the Board of Managers and advises on strategic business development and investment activities. She also serves as a Managing Director with AKF Consulting Group, a strategic advisor to public administrators of state investment programs, focusing on the areas of governance, fiduciary duties, and oversight of state-run investment programs. Mrs. Cantor is a past Chair of the Board and served from 2010 through 2020 as a Trustee of the Virginia Retirement System, where she was responsible for the oversight and risk management of the Commonwealth of Virginia's retirement system. Mrs. Cantor served as a Managing Director with New York Private Bank and Trust from January 2008 through December 2009, where she participated in the expansion of the Bank's wealth management activities. She was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Virginia College Savings Plan (now known as Commonwealth Savers), an independent agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a position she held from 1996 to 2007. In that role, she was responsible for the creation, implementation, and investment management of a $27 billion program. Earlier in her career, she served as a Vice President of Richmond Resources, Ltd., a real estate development, construction, and management company, and as a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co., overseeing the firm's leveraged buyout and internal investment funds and merchant banking operations. Mrs. Cantor has served on the board of directors of VICI Properties Inc., an experiential-asset focused real estate investment trust, since 2018, and is both Chair of its Audit Committee and a member of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Mrs. Cantor also serves on the board of trustees of the Dodge & Cox Funds since 2024, and is a member of the Audit and Compliance Committee, Contract Review Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee, and Valuation Committee. Mrs. Cantor is a director of VCU Health System Authority, serving as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors, the Chair of the Investment and Debt Committee, as well as a member of the Finance and Property Committee, the Audit and Compliance Committee, the Governance Committee, the Evaluation and Compensation Committee, and the Executive Committee. From 2005 to 2025, Mrs. Cantor served as a director of Domino's Pizza, Inc. (Dominos), a global pizza restaurant chain and franchise pizza delivery company and in that role as a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, the Inclusion and Diversity Committee, and Chair of the Audit Committee. Mrs. Cantor also served as a director and member of the Audit Committee of Revlon, Inc., a global cosmetics company, from 2013 to 2015, as a director of The Edelman Financial Group, Inc., a provider of investment advice, from 2011 to 2012, and as a director and Chair of the Audit Committee of Media General, Inc., a provider of news, information, and entertainment, from 2005 until its merger with Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Inc. to form Nexstar Media Group, Inc. in January 2017.

Mr. Thomas H. Tullidge, Jr is Chief Strategy Officer, Legal and Finance, Managing Director and a co-founder of Cary Street Partners Financial LLC (formerly Luxon Financial LLC), a comprehensive wealth and asset management service provider that was founded in 2002. In that role, he is responsible for developing, communicating, executing, and sustaining corporate strategic initiatives. Previously, Mr. Tullidge held several senior level positions within the Mergers and Acquisitions Group of Wachovia Securities, formerly First Union Securities, including Head of the Technology Mergers and Acquisitions Group. During his tenure at Wachovia Securities, Mr. Tullidge also led the Healthcare Mergers and Acquisitions Group and executed transactions across a wide range of industries in addition to healthcare and technology, including Business Services, Media and Entertainment, and Restaurants. Prior to joining First Union, he was a partner at Jefferson Capital Partners, Ltd., a private equity firm, and before that he served as Vice President in Business Development and as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary with Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield. Mr. Tullidge was also a Partner with the law firm of McGuireWoods LLP and an accountant with Price Waterhouse. He serves as a member of the Executive Committee of Cary Street Partners Financial LLC. Mr. Tullidge also currently serves as a director and member of the Audit and Finance Committees of Carpenter Co., a privately-held company and one of the world's largest producers of comfort cushioning products, and as a director and member of the Executive, Audit, and Compensation Committees of Gray Lumber Company, a privately held real estate investment firm.

Mr. Robert C. Sledd is Managing Partner of Sledd Properties, LLC, an investment company, and has held that role since 2001. From January 2010 until January 2014, Mr. Sledd served as the Senior Economic Advisor to the former Governor of Virginia and was responsible for the development of Virginia's strategic economic development plan and oversight in coordination with the Secretary of Commerce. In 1987, Mr. Sledd co-founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of Performance Food Group Company (PFG), a foodservice distribution company. During his tenure at PFG, Mr. Sledd oversaw the development and implementation of its strategic plan, becoming Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1995. Under his leadership, PFG became the third largest foodservice distributor in the U.S. and the largest produce processor and bagged salad supplier to both the retail and foodservice markets with approximately $7 billion in sales. Mr. Sledd remained Chairman until PFG was taken private in June 2008. Mr. Sledd also served as a director and a member of the Audit and Executive Committees of Owens & Minor, Inc., a distributor of national name-brand medical and surgical supplies and a healthcare supply chain management company, from 2007 to 2021 and served as Chairman of the Board from 2018 to 2020. Mr. Sledd served as the Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Owens & Minor, Inc. from November 2018 to March 2019. From 1996 until his retirement in May 2024, Mr. Sledd served as a director on the board of Pool Corporation, a wholesale distributor of swimming pool supplies, equipment, and related leisure products, and was a member of its Audit and Compensation Committees. In that time, Pool Corporation was among the top performing companies on the Nasdaq.

Mr. Lennart R. Freeman worked for Swedish Match AB, a Swedish producer and global distributor of smokeless tobacco products, cigars, matches and lighters (Swedish Match), for over 30 years, serving in various executive roles of increasing responsibility, including as Executive Vice President of Swedish Match, President and Chief Executive Officer of its North American Division and as President of its International Division. Under his leadership, the North American Division tripled its sales and operating income and the International Division successfully completed a major restructuring, resulting in the sale of the South African business to Philip Morris International in 2009 and the merger of the Cigar and Pipe Tobacco business with Scandinavian Tobacco Group in 2010, creating the second largest cigar company in the world. Earlier in his career at Swedish Match, he served as Managing Director, Cricket Lighters and as President for the Cigarette Division. Following his retirement from Swedish Match in 2011 and until December 2014, he served as a director of the board of Dometic Group AB, a privately-held global provider of comfort products for the recreational vehicle, automotive and marine markets. Mr. Freeman is a well-recognized tobacco industry veteran, receiving the Giant of the Industry Award, which was presented by the California Distributors Association in October 2005, and the Captain of the Industry Award, which was presented by the Pennsylvania Distributors Association in October 2000.

Mr. Arthur J. Schick, Jr is a global consumer products executive with expertise in domestic and international strategic supplier development and procurement (ingredients and packaging), operations, supply chain management, and research and development. Mr. Schick is a 35-year veteran of PepsiCo, Inc. (PepsiCo), a global food and beverage company. He retired as Vice President of Proprietary Flavors within the Beverage Concentrate Division of PepsiCo in 2020. During his 17 years in that position, Mr. Schick led PepsiCo's organization that manufactured all proprietary flavors for the company's global beverage brands and led the global sourcing strategies and supply chain management for the organization. From 1985 to 2003, Mr. Schick held other leadership roles in global procurement, operations, and supply chain management at PepsiCo, including Senior Director, Procurement in the Beverage Concentrate Division and Director, Global Procurement. Earlier in his career, Mr. Schick worked in the Research and Development Division of Procter & Gamble, a consumer products company. In addition, Mr. Schick served over ten years as a contributing board member for the Flavor Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA), the premier national association of the U.S. flavor industry, serving as FEMA's President in 2013. Since 2020, Mr. Schick has served as the President of Alpha Sierra Global LLC, a consulting company that provides strategic and operational consulting to firms that focus on consumer products, flavor compounding, and ingredients.

Ms. Jacqueline T. Williams is an experienced executive with leadership in government, financial services and telecommunications. Most recently, Ms. Williams served as Director of the Ohio Department of Commerce. Appointed by Ohio's Governor, Ms. Williams served in the Cabinet position from 2015 to 2019, providing enterprise leadership for the state's principal business regulatory agency, including operational responsibility for the state's billion dollar spirits industry. Ms. Williams' prior tenure includes serving as Ohio's Chief of Minority Business Development and as Executive Director of the Ohio Liquor Control Commission. She worked as Director of College Savings for New America Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, and served for a decade as Executive Director of the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority which operates the state's 529 college savings programs. Ms. Williams spent 15 years with AT&T, a telecommunications, technology, media and entertainment company. Ms. Williams has served on a number of public sector boards including the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, the Ohio Minority Development Finance Advisory Board and the Columbus Cancer Clinic. Ms. Williams also served as board chair for the Ohio Minority Business Advisory Council, Chair of the College Savings Plans Network and as president of the Columbus (Ohio) Board of Health.

Ms. Fotini Emanuel Manolios served as Managing Vice President, Head of Total Rewards of Capital One Financial Corporation (Capital One), a Fortune 100 tech-enabled financial services firm, from 2012 through September 2022. Ms. Manolios previously held various roles of increasing responsibility at Capital One, including Director, Head of US Card & International Compensation, Senior Director, Head of US Card Compensation, International Total Rewards & Global Mobility and Vice President, Head of US Card Compensation, International Total Rewards & Global Mobility. Prior to joining Capital One, Ms. Manolios served as HR Business Partner & Director of Compensation at GenSpring Family Offices, a subsidiary of SunTrust Bank, from 2010 to 2012, and as a Senior Compensation Consultant in the Wealth & Investment Management group at SunTrust Bank from 2008 to 2010. Ms. Manolios also worked at Accenture where she held various roles of increasing responsibility from 1999 to 2008 and Citibank from 1996 to 1999. Ms. Manolios currently serves as a director of VCU Health and is the Chair of the Evaluation & Compensation Committee and a member of the Audit & Compliance Committee and the Investment and Debt Committee.

Mr. Gregory A. Trojan is a retired executive and has over 25 years of executive leadership experience across nationally recognized restaurant, retail, and consumer products companies. He served as Chief Executive Officer of BJ's Restaurants, Inc., the owner and operator of over 200 casual dining restaurants throughout the U.S., from 2013 to 2021 and as a member of the board of directors from 2012 to September 2025. Before that, Mr. Trojan served as Chief Executive Officer of Guitar Center, Inc. and House of Blues Entertainment, Inc. and held various senior leadership positions at PepsiCo, Inc. Mr. Trojan currently serves on the Board of Directors of Casey's General Stores, Inc. as well as on the Board of Managers of CEC Brands, LLC, the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza.

Mr. Starke was elected Senior Vice President and Sales Director of Universal Leaf effective July 2023. He has served as Senior Vice President since 2017, as Vice President from January 2012 until February 2017, and Assistant Vice President from October 2007 until January 2012. Mr. Starke joined the Company in 1999.

Mr. Diel was elected Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in April 2026, having previously served as Vice President, Business Development from May 2018 to April 2026. He has been employed with the Company since May 2018.

Mr. Bleicher was elected Vice President and Controller in June 2019. Mr. Bleicher joined the Company in August 2014 and served as Assistant Controller through May 2019.