About
Universal Corporation
Universal Corporation is a global business-to-business agriproducts company with over 100 years of experience supplying premium ingredients and innovative solutions to meet our customers’ diverse needs and precise specifications.
Our vision is to be the premier connection where local and global communities grow together through custom agriproducts.
The Universal Promise
We know the ingredients and products we provide ultimately represent you and your brand, not just us. At Universal, we are committed to delivering customized, tailored solutions and ingredients that meet each of our customers’ high standards and successfully get to market.
The Universal brand carries a promise: that customers can be confident in the product we supply, as well as the way in which we conduct business. Such confidence requires a stable, dependable supply chain that is fully compliant in terms of sustainability and meets each customers’ specific and exacting requirements.
Executive Leadership
Preston D. Wigner has been Universal's Chief Executive Officer and President since October 2024. Previously, Mr. Wigner served as Senior Vice President of Universal Corporation and Executive Vice President of Universal Leaf Tobacco Company (“Universal Leaf”) from April to October 2024. Prior to these 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. Preston has served as Chairman of the Board of Universal since his election in 2024 and serves as Chairman of the Universal Leaf Executive Committee and a member of the Universal Global Ventures, Inc. Board.
J. Patrick O'Keefe, Vice President, Ingredients of Universal Corporation and Senior Vice President of Universal Global Ventures, Inc. (“UGVI”), joined Universal in April 2020. Mr. O’Keefe has spent his entire 30+ year career in the food ingredient industry. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer for Allen Flavors from 2018 to 2020, Chief Executive Officer of the Americas for Döhler Group from 2015 to 2018, and President of Finlay Tea Solutions US, Inc. and then Chief Executive Officer of Finlay Extracts & Ingredients, both subsidiaries of James Finlay International, from 2007 to 2015. Earlier in his career, Mr. O’Keefe also held commercial roles of increasing responsibility at Sensient Flavors, Inc., Givaudan Flavors and International Flavors & Fragrances. Mr. O’Keefe is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of UGVI.
Airton L. Hentschke, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, has more than 24 years of experience in leaf operations with Universal. Mr. Hentschke previously served as Executive Vice President of Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Inc., since 2013, and Regional Director for the Company's operations in South America, and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Leaf Tabacos Limitada in Brazil, since 1991.
Johan C. Kroner was elected Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer on September 1, 2018. He served as Senior Vice President from February 6, 2018. He also serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Universal Leaf. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President of Universal Leaf from September 2014 to September 2018, and Vice President from October 2011 to September 2014. Mr. Kroner has been with the Company since July 1993.
Catherine H. Claiborne has served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Universal Corporation and Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Inc. (“Universal Leaf”) since April 1, 2024. Ms.Claiborne was a long-standing member of the Universal Leaf Legal Department starting in 1999 and served as Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Secretary from 2005 to 2018. Ms. Claiborne left the Legal Department in February 2018 to serve in a management role as Vice President and Assistant Secretary of Universal Corporation and Senior Vice President, Administration and Secretary of Universal Leaf. Ms. Claiborne is a member of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of Universal Leaf and Universal Global Ventures, Inc.
Executive Leadership
Our History
In the Beginning
Universal Corporation has more than 100 years of experience supplying premium ingredients and innovative solutions to meet our customers’ diverse needs and precise specifications. Its origins trace back to the late nineteenth century and the efforts of Jaquelin Plummer Taylor of Orange County, Virginia. In 1918, Virginia tobacconist Jaquelin P. Taylor pursued a bold vision to build the largest tobacco leaf dealer organization in the world, Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Incorporated (“Universal”).
Universal’s original charter stated that the Company’s business was “to buy, sell, and deal in leaf tobacco, whether for its own account of on commission.” Today, 100 years later, we have vastly enlarged our scope of operations from a U.S. leaf tobacco merchant company to a global agriproduct enterprise.
The early years of Universal were not without challenges, as the fledgling company struggled with both adverse market conditions and financial difficulties. With a new generation of management, the Company refocused on its core business and moved its corporate headquarters from New York to Richmond, Virginia. At the same time, Universal made its first forays into international markets, China and Canada, and continued to increase its U.S. leaf tobacco volumes. In 1927, Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Incorporated was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“UVV”).
With the severe economic downturn at the beginning of the decade, Universal concentrated on building efficiencies through larger processing volumes and cost-cutting measures. Universal also established a branch in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).
World War II, and the rebuilding years that followed, created challenges for Universal, but also significant growth opportunities in the U.S. and abroad as cigarettes became the dominant form of smoked tobacco.
Universal set new standards for the tobacco industry by establishing the industry’s first laboratory standards and investing in revolutionary technology for cigar binder fabrication. The Company continued to look throughout the world for investment opportunities, including Africa and Canada.
Universal expanded its operations on four continents and developed economies of scale through its first generation of four “super factories”. Universal continued to expand in Rhodesia until U.N. economic sanctions stemming from the country’s civil war cut off the Rhodesian market. Expatriate Rhodesians aided in the Company’s expansion into the Philippines and Korea, Growing acceptance of leaf from Malawi led Universal to form Limbe Leaf Tobacco Company in Malawi.
The worldwide tobacco industry experienced consolidation of manufacturers and major purchasers of tobacco. Universal developed improved systems to control the flow and packaging of tobacco, as well as new quality control guidelines to address the changing marketplace. Universal reentered China, invested in operations in Guatemala, and continued expansion in Mexico.
Universal continued its leadership in tobacco technology, including obtaining a patent on the Counterflow Separator machine which provides efficient separation of tobacco leaf from its stem. Universal also acquired NV Deli-Maatschappij, its partner in Greece, Italy, and Brazil, and the Royster Company in Norfolk, Virginia, a manufacturer and marketer of phosphate fertilizer materials, mixed fertilizers, and micronutrients.
Universal continued to expand its operations around the world including acquiring Gebruder Kulenkampff AG, expanding activities in Brazil and Turkey, becoming the world’s largest dark air-cured tobacco merchant, and entered a joint venture with Socotab, creating the world’s leading oriental leaf merchant. The Company also implemented a global strategy that emphasized partnerships with customers to promote supply stability.
Universal expanded its processing capabilities with the construction of a state-of-the-art, next generation “super factory” in Nashville, North Carolina and a processing facility in Tete, Mozambique. The Company also decided to focus on its core leaf tobacco business and divested its lumber operations.
Universal celebrated its 100th anniversary and consistently set the standard in the leaf tobacco industry by continuously generating innovative solutions to meet the needs of our global customers and bringing efficiencies to the leaf tobacco supply chain. We met this milestone by successfully recognizing trends in our industry and adapting purposefully to change. We also began to invest further in farmer technology, share our sustainability efforts and practices, and explore growth opportunities in adjacent industries and markets that utilize our assets and capabilities.
The Present & Beyond
We are proud of our past accomplishments that have made us the company we are today, but we are also mindful of what we need to do to be successful in the future. As the industry leader, we must focus attention and resources on factors affecting sustainability throughout the supply chain, including reforestation, water conservation, reduced carbon emissions, child labor, and environmentally sensitive agricultural practices.
We know that our actions have a powerful impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people on five continents–farmers, employees, and families in rural communities. That’s why we are committed to investing in infrastructure and social programs that improve living conditions, promote education, and make communities stronger and healthier.