Our Team
Andrew Swartz - Founder
Andrew Swartz founded Piper Beach Group after thirty-five years in the tobacco and nicotine industry. His career has spanned national accounts, trade marketing, and manufacturing leadership at some of the industry's leading companies, as well as the contract manufacturing layer that produces much of the modern oral category.
He held national accounts roles at Imperial Brands and JTI, managing key retailers and wholesalers including Speedway, Circle K, Kroger, and TravelCenters of America. At Swisher International, he led a 20+ person trade marketing team managing promotions across 120,000+ retail stores, 500+ distributors, and 250+ wholesale and retail contracts. The relationships he built across U.S. convenience, mass, and tobacco-outlet channels remain active today.
He was part of the founding commercial team behind the modern oral nicotine brand acquired by RJR and now marketed as VELO Plus. Most recently, he served as VP of Manufacturing at Innova Product Solutions, adding hands-on production leadership to a career built on commercial and brand expertise.
Piper Beach Group is the result of that arc: a senior-led advisory practice serving brands, manufacturers, and investors in the modern oral and functional pouch categories with a rare combination of retail relationships, commercial depth, and operational fluency.
A Working Bench
What makes Piper Beach different isn't only what the principal has done — it's who we work with today. On selected engagements, we bring in a small, confidential group of senior operators currently employed inside the modern oral and functional pouch industry: at brands, manufacturers, and distributors. Their contribution is a working operator's read — what's actually happening on the ground now, not what was true five years ago.
To protect their current roles, their identities remain confidential and their input is attributed to the firm rather than to them individually. Every engagement is governed by NDA, and the bench is structured to avoid conflicts with our clients' businesses.
This structure is deliberate. It keeps our perspective current, our clients' engagements private, and our category coverage broader than a solo advisory could offer.