Leadership Team

James A. Mish
Chief Executive Officer Read Bio
James A. Mish was appointed Chief Executive Officer in June 2020. He has an outstanding track record of delivering profitable growth at both privately-held and publicly-traded science-driven companies with a focus on pharmaceutical and consumer products commercialization. Prior to joining 22nd Century, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Purisys, a synthetic cannabinoid API, ingredients and solutions provider to pharmaceutical and consumer products companies, and Noramco, a global leader in the production of controlled substances for the pharmaceutical industry. There, he led the private equity carve out of Noramco from Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Pharmaceuticals and spearheaded the subsequent creation and spinoff of Purisys from Noramco. James began his career at Pfizer in research and development before holding positions of increasing responsibility at several companies including as President of Ashland Specialty Ingredients - Consumer Specialties, a major division of Ashland Corporation, a premier, global specialty materials company serving customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets.
R. Hugh Kinsman
Chief Financial Officer Read Bio
R. Hugh Kinsman was appointed our Chief Financial Officer in June 2022. He was previously CFO of GVB, which 22nd Century acquired in May 2022. Hugh has extensive experience as a senior executive in roles ranging from acting CFO of a publicly-traded battery manufacturer with operations in the U.S., Switzerland, and Italy to the CFO of West World Media, a private data aggregation company that was acquired for $60 million. He also worked at GE Capital where he oversaw over a billion dollars in infrastructure, energy, and communications investments. He began his career at Asher & Company, CPAs (now BDO) and has held a Certified Public Accountant designation. He earned his B.S. in Finance from Penn State University and his MBA from Cornell University.
Calvin Treat
Chief Scientific Officer Read Bio
Calvin Treat joined 22nd Century Group as our Chief Scientific Officer in May 2022. Prior to joining 22nd Century Group, Dr. Treat served as Senior Vice President and Head of Crop Technology at Bayer where he oversaw more than $2 billion in R&D spending dedicated to seeds, traits, and crop protection while also driving tailored solutions to meet grower needs. Prior to Bayer, Dr. Treat was the technology lead for Monsanto’s global corn and soy crops, where he merged the soy and corn technology teams to garner synergies across the platforms. While part of the Monsanto teams, he was involved in the launches of multiple technologies including Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans, Intacta® RR2 Pro soybeans in South America, and Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® soybean technology across North America, one of Monsanto’s largest and most complex trait launches. His additional roles at Monsanto included global corn technology lead, global oilseeds technology lead and global soybean breeding lead, among others. Dr. Treat has a doctorate in plant breeding and plant genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an executive MBA from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, a Master of Science in Agronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Economics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
John Franzino
Chief Administrative Officer Read Bio
John Franzino was appointed Chief Administrative Officer in November 2021 and previously served as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer from June 2020. He has a successful track record of strategic financial leadership in high-growth, highly regulated, consumer-facing industries as well as not-for-profit higher education organizations. Most recently, Franzino served as Chief Financial Officer of the West Point Association of Graduates, which supports the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Prior to his experience in higher education, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, a subsidiary of Reynolds American, Inc., and as Chief Financial Officer of Labatt USA, a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch. In both roles, he was responsible for the financial planning and control function as well as information systems and technology. John is a certified public accountant and holds a Master of Business Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maine at Farmington.
Peter F. Ferola
Chief Legal Officer Read Bio
Mr. Ferola was promoted to the position of Chief Legal Officer in February 2023. Mr. Ferola has served as our General Counsel and Secretary since November 2022. Mr. Ferola has over 30 years of progressive leadership experience in business management, legal affairs and corporate governance. Most recently, he served as Project Counsel in Greenberg Traurig LLP’s corporate securities group. From 2011 to 2020 he served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel at BioTelemetry, Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAT). From 2009 to 2011, Mr. Ferola served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Nipro Diagnostics, Inc. (formerly Home Diagnostics, Inc., NASDAQ: HDIX). Prior to joining Home Diagnostics, Mr. Ferola worked as a corporate and securities attorney with Greenberg Traurig, LLP and with Dilworth Paxson, LLP in Washington, D.C., focusing on mergers, acquisitions, public securities offerings and corporate governance matters. From 1989 to 2002, Mr. Ferola worked in executive management roles for an American Stock Exchange listed company, most recently serving as Vice President—Administration and Corporate Secretary, overseeing the company’s administrative functions, legal matters and investor relations. Mr. Ferola earned a Bachelor of Science and Juris Doctor degree from Nova Southeastern University and a Master of Laws in Securities and Financial Regulation from Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Ferola has authored numerous articles on corporate and securities laws, with a particular focus on audit committees and regulations implemented in the wake of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Mr. Ferola also serves as a FINRA arbitrator and a panelist on the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel.
John Miller
President, Tobacco Business Read Bio
Mr. Miller was appointed President of 22nd Century’s Tobacco Business in September 2022. Prior to joining 22nd Century Group, Mr. Miller was the President and CEO of Swisher International, Inc., a 160-year-old leading lifestyle brands company that is the largest manufacturer and exporter of cigars and smokeless tobacco products in America. Mr. Miller joined Swisher in November of 2012 as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, was promoted to President in 2017 and named CEO in March 2021. Mr. Miller’s experience also includes more than 20 years in various management positions at US Smokeless Tobacco Co. As Regional Vice President, he had direct oversight and responsibility for all sales, planning and operations for key brands in the Western United States. US Smokeless Tobacco Co. was acquired by Altria in 2009. Mr. Miller holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance from UNLV and earned an MBA from Pepperdine University, The George L. Graziadio School of Business Management.
Steven Przybyla
Head of Hemp/Cannabis Business Development Read Bio
Steven Przybyla joined 22nd Century Group as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary in July 2020. Prior to joining 22nd Century, Steven served as President of the Medical Division at Jushi, Inc., a publicly traded, global cannabis and hemp company, where he led a variety of regulatory, legislative affairs, and strategic planning initiatives to advance Jushi’s medical cannabis and industrial hemp businesses. Steven also previously served as General Counsel for the Dent Neurologic Group, LLP and Seneca Development Corporation. He holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Washington and Lee University.
Juan Sanchez Tamburrino
Vice President of Research and Development Read Bio
Juan Sanchez Tamburrino was appointed Vice President of Research and Development in December 2017. Following six years of post-doctoral research at the Rockefeller University in New York, Dr. Tamburrino served as a Director/Associate Professor of the Biotechnology Center for Arid Zones in South America before becoming the Research Manager for agronomic traits at Pioneer Hi-Bred International (now known as DuPont Pioneer). In 2009, Dr. Tamburrino was appointed the head of the Plant Biotechnology Division of British American Tobacco in Cambridge, England, where he was responsible for biotechnology strategy related to tobacco leaf, including harm reduction and trait innovation programs. Dr. Tamburrino holds a Ph.D. degree in molecular biology and genetics from the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Cornell University, a partnership program with the Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Institute, and in 2020 he received his Master of Business Administration at the University of Bradford in Bradford, U.K.
John D. Pritchard
Vice President of Regulatory Science Read Bio
John Pritchard joined 22nd Century Group as our Vice President of Regulatory Science in April 2019. Prior to that time, John was the Head of Regulatory Science for Imperial Brands, where he led that company’s technical regulatory strategy and external scientific engagement on global product regulation. Before joining Imperial Brands, he was a Toxicologist with both the U.K. Health Protection Agency (now, Public Health England) and Charles River, a leading global contract research organization for the pharmaceutical industry. John received a Master of Science Degree in Toxicology from the University of Birmingham, England and his Bachelor of Science Degree with honors in Pharmacology from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
Sebastian Ravitz
Vice President of Marketing Read Bio
Sebastian Ravitz joined 22nd Century Group as our Vice President of Marketing in January 2023. Prior to 22nd Century, he served as the Chief Marketing Officer of GVB Biopharma (acquired by 22nd Century Group in May of 2022) since 2019. Before GVB, Ravitz ran his digital marketing agency, Loudley. Loudley’s clients included Live Nation, Electric Family, and Chinese E-Commerce giant JD.com. Before launching Loudley, he had joined the founding team of Trendy Butler, a men’s subscription clothing platform utilizing machine learning to automate style picking. Sebastian has extensive experience operating in highly regulated advertising markets.