Archives: Speakers

Alastair has 30+ years of experience in the biopharmaceutical development of pre- and post-approval drugs, joining Syneos Health on 2017.  Prior to  joining Syneos Health, Alastair had a Global Delivery Head role at AstraZeneca with responsibility for the delivery of both pre and post approval programmes supporting key brands

George Cassels-Smith is the CEO of Tobacco Technology, Inc., e-LiquiTech and Emerald Green
Technology. He was appointed TTI CEO in 2003 after a successful run in Sales and as its Senior
Vice President. A hands-on CEO, George focuses on the future of nicotine delivery.

Having literally grown up in the tobacco industry, George accompanied his father (TTI founder
Duke Cassels-Smith) to tobacco auctions as a child. He is a 1992 graduate of the University of
Maryland and holds a B.S. in Business Administration. He has worked in the industry his entire
career in purchasing, flavor development and sales. George’s first formal job in the tobacco
industry came as a leaf buyer for Dannemann (part of the Burger Söhne Group) based in Cruz das
Salmas, Bahia, Brazil in the early 90’s. After moving back to the US he worked for Hail and
Cotton before joining the family business, Tobacco Technology, Inc.

George has taken Tobacco Technology, Inc from a traditional tobacco flavoring company to a
state-of-the-art scientific and innovative enterprise while expanding its focus beyond tobacco; in
2016 he started E-LiquiTech, a subsidiary dedicated to developing and manufacturing premium
quality e-liquids. This year he established his newest endeavor, Emerald Green Technology. This
TTI subsidiary is dedicated to taking the cannabinoid industry to new and higher levels.
George remains focused on the future of the industry while dedicating time and resources to
provide cleaner nicotine delivery alternatives.

Ujjwal Suri is Fornova’s VP Global Revenue & Distribution and has over 18 years of experience working globally in analytics and consulting for Fortune 100 companies, such as CapGemini, Dell and Sitel. He has been focused on the travel technology sector over the last 8 years and has been closely advising global hospitality majors such as Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, etc. on their long-term digital, distribution and revenue roadmap. Ujjwal has been instrumental in the introduction of new revenue and distribution policies in the travel sector.

Dr. Antony Jones is a managing consultant at Broughton with over twenty-two years of multidisciplinary consulting experience preparing and critically assessing a broad range of toxicological, microbial and epidemiological studies. Dr. Jones has conducted human health risk assessments of multiple Electronic Nicotine Delivery systems (ENDS) and other tobacco products for inclusion in FDA Pre-Market Tobacco Applications (PMTA). He also has experience conducting ecological and microbial risk assessments, preparing regulatory submissions and communicating results to clients, community stakeholders and governmental agencies.

Jason W. Flora, Ph.D., is an Associate Fellow, Scientific Strategy & Advocacy, Regulatory Affairs for Altria Client Services (ALCS) in Richmond, VA. In this role, he leads the strategic planning and integration of cross-functional teams of experts to develop the science and evidence for regulatory submissions for non-combustible tobacco products for Altria’s tobacco operating companies.

Dr. Flora has held a variety of positions within the Altria family of companies. Most recently, he served as Senior Principal Scientist where he led the science integration for Philip Morris USA with a focus on the scientific substantiation and regulatory requirements for Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs). He has also held the position of Senior Manager, Sensory and Analytical Sciences, where he led two teams of analytical scientists focusing on analytical constituent evaluations supporting analytical chemistry method development for regulatory reporting and product development. He has also held positions in the Health Science Research group within ALCS where he developed and led the Proteomics Research group and has worked in the External Scientific Communications group.

Dr. Flora served seven years as an adjunct faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University teaching a graduate level chemistry course focused on Mass Spectrometry.

Before joining the Altria family of companies in 2002, Dr. Flora held a variety of positions including environmental chemist, manufacturing chemist/QA manager, and manager of the Mass Spectrometry Center for the Study of Biocomplexity at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Flora is currently the recipient of 16 U.S. patents. He has also co-authored more than 25 scientific peer-reviewed publications and more than 60 presentations in areas such as the scientific assessment of reduced risk tobacco products, biomarker discovery, analytical method development, aerosol chemical characterization, and small molecule structural confirmations.

PhD, Analytical Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 2002

MS, Analytical Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 2000 

BS, Chemistry, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, VA, 1994

Fleur is a spontaneous, open-minded, and compassionate professional who values sincerity, generosity, and openness. With a background in FinTech, she has transitioned from tech to commercial roles at Adyen. In her current sales position, she thrives on educating and challenging hotel businesses to embrace state-of-the-art technology in order to provide a seamless guest experience.