Black Buffalo has announced the re-election of Kit Dietz to its board of directors, and the appointment of Viv Penninti as senior advisor.
Dietz has been elected to serve another term as independent director of Black Buffalo, after first joining the board in March 2023. A seasoned executive and strategist, Dietz brings over four decades of experience in the nicotine and tobacco category. Notably, he served as an independent director on Lorillard’s board upon going public in 2008, through its $27 billion acquisition by Reynolds American in 2015, one of the most significant M&A transactions in industry history.
Prior to his service at Lorillard, Dietz served as chairman of Tripifoods Inc., a full-line convenience distributor in Buffalo, N.Y., and president of Michigan-based Spartan Stores Inc. Convenience Division.
Penninti joined Black Buffalo in January 2025 in a newly established role as senior advisor, where he will guide Black Buffalo’s data-driven sales and marketing strategies. Widely recognized as one of the key architects of data and analytics in the tobacco and nicotine industry for 30-plus years, Penninti was the former CEO of Management Science Associates Inc. (MSAi), and subsequently the CEO of iGATE Global Solutions, a NASDAQ-listed IT company. Penninti is currently the CEO of InRhythm, Inc. which is engaged in the development of an AI-driven business intelligence application.
“Having Kit and Viv closely advising Black Buffalo in their respective capacities is an amazing benefit for our company, as well as our retail partners and wholesale customers,” said Matthew Hanson, chief growth officer at Black Buffalo. “Together, Kit and Viv have created some of the most widely used strategies and technologies in sales, data and analytics in the industry, and we are honored that they have chosen to partner with Black Buffalo.”
As Black Buffalo continues to scale its retail presence and build toward long-term category leadership, the expertise of both Dietz and Penninti is critical to support Black Buffalo’s strategic planning, retail acceleration and performance optimization.
Founded in 2015, Black Buffalo has created America’s leading smokeless tobacco alternative products, backed by over 25,000 hours of research and development. The company is a three-time recipient of the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America award.
