Mike Conder, who co-founded Crowned Heads cigar company with Jon Huber, has retired. In the transition, Crowned Heads also made a series of leadership announcements that include partner Tim Ozgener becoming the company’s new CEO.
Conder has had a career in the cigar industry that has spanned five decades. After starting in retail, Conder moved to General Cigar Company, where he worked for the Cullman family as a sales representative. He made his way up to Vice President of Sales. Eventually, he made his way to CAO Cigars, where he worked for Cano Ozgener, Tim’s father. CAO was based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2007, CAO was acquired by Henri Wintermans, and when that became a part of Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG), Conder was back in General.
Conder, Huber, and Ozgener were at CAO and STG together, but all three would depart by the end of 2011. Conder, Huber, and two other employees would go on to form Crowned Heads (also based in Nashville). Ozgener left the business for a while, but resurfaced three years ago, launching Oz Family Cigars and becoming a partner in Crowned Heads. As a part of the transition with Conder, Ozgener has bought out Conder’s company shares. Conder will stay on as a consultant.
Meanwhile, in three other moves:
- Jon Huber is now the President of Crowned Heads
- Adam Shepard is now the Chief Operating Officer
- Miguel Schoedel has been promoted to Vice President of Sales
Meanwhile, Crowned Heads has been busy with additional transformations. Earlier this week, the company announced a new logo and plans to revamp much of its branding and packaging.
Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
