Particularly Tarkin, who was one of the main villains in A New Hope and ordered the destruction of Alderaan.
In many works a local Moff is usually a source of trouble for the Rebels. Justified as Palpatine designed the Empire to fall upon his death.
Word of God states that afterwards, the Empire crumbled and split into numerous small successor states, so that by the time of The Force Awakens the original Empire no longer exists. Adaptational Wimp: Compared to the Empire from Legends, the First Galactic Empire collapsed far more quickly in the Canon, with what was left of the Empire surrendering to the New Republic a little over a year after Endor, rather than 15 years later in Legends.
