We’re excited to announce that Heaven Hill Brands has been named Large Business of the Year in the inaugural Louisville Business First Family Business Awards! The Family Business Awards, sponsored by UofL Family Business Center were established to honor the superstars who are the backbone of our local economy – family-owned businesses. Finalists were chosen for awards across five categories including Small Business of the Year, Large Business of the Year, Rising Star/Next Gen, Legacy Leader, and the Brown-Forman Family Business Leadership Award. Heaven Hill was nominated for the Large Business category which honors companies with 51 or more full-time employees that demonstrates excellence in strategic planning, employee and leadership development, community involvement and an inclusive healthy culture. Other nominees in the Large Business category included The Koetter Group, Louisville Paving & Construction Co., and Zoeller Co.

Winners were announced during a virtual Family Business Awards event on Tuesday morning. During the event, Heaven Hill Brands Chief Marketing Officer Kate Latts served on a panel with other Family Business Awards winners including Alice Houston, Owner of HJI Supply Chain Solutions; Autumn Nethery, co-owner & Director of Sales and Marketing for Jeptha Creed Distillery; and Anne Shadle, co-owner of Mayan Café. The event concluded with a presentation by Keynote Speaker, Richard Graeter, President and CEO of the family owned favorite, Graeter’s Ice Cream.

As a locally owned, family owned company for 85 years, Heaven Hill is extremely proud of this honor. We couldn’t have done it without the hard work and dedication of our incredible employees. Thank you to everyone for your hard work, dedication, and nimbleness, especially over the past several months.

Learn more about the Family Business Awards here and read Heaven Hill’s Family Business Awards profile here.

The Shapira Family
Master Distiller Emeritus Parker Beam (middle) & Max Shapira (right) at the Evan Williams bottling line
Old Heaven Hill Springs Distillery
The five founding brothers of Heaven Hill Distilleries
Heaven Hill President, Max Shapira