As head of anti-illicit trade policy at BAT, Nick Hodsman’s role is to develop international approaches to fighting illicit trade that can be applied both globally and directly in support of countries trying to contain illicit trade. This role spans both illicit trade in combustible cigarettes and the emerging threat of illicit trade in non-combustible nicotine products. He joined BAT in 2024, having previously worked as a consultant.

Hodsman has 15 years of experience working in illicit trade, and worked as a director at KPMG, responsible for many publicly available illicit trade reports, including leading KPMG’s Annual Illicit Tobacco study within Europe, which continues to be produced today.

An economist by background, a large proportion of Hodsman’s work focuses on the economic losses associated with illicit trade, both financial and social.  He helped to pioneer a major study undertaken by the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Centre at George Mason University on major hubs of illicit trade. Since joining BAT, he has worked extensively to better understand the size, scale, impact, and economic losses associated with illicit trade in vaping, which appears to be a rapidly developing problem facing the industry.  In addition, he is responsible for developing BAT’s group-wide approach to combating illicit trade in new categories.

Hodsman has recently engaged extensively with international organizations to look at alternative approaches to combating illicit trade, including the risks of illicit trade and organized crime, and controls on raw materials associated with manufacturing these products.