Glamorous ex-army captain battling Brazilian for top job

THE proposed takeover of US cigarette maker Reynolds by British American Tobacco will kick-start a power struggle at the top of the enlarged company.

Nicandro Durante, who has been chief executive of BAT since 2011 and earned £4.5m last year, is wellregarded in the City and is likely to keep the top job having orchestrated the deal.

But the 60-year-old Brazilian will face competition from 45-year-old American Debra Crew (pictured), who is president and chief operating officer at Reynolds but will replace Susan Cameron at the company’s helm next year.

Crew – who was named in the Fortune list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2014 and 2015 – served in the US Army from 1993 to 1997 in military intelligence and rose to the rank of captain.

She started her business career at Kraft and held senior management positions at Pepsi and Mars before joining Reynolds in 2014.