Heaven Hill made history at the 2023 Kentucky Distillers’ Association annual meeting. We were awarded the KDA’s first-ever Spirit of the Industry Award, a new award created by KDA to recognize the company in the industry that most represents the spirit of Kentucky Bourbon and advocates for the broader industry. Over this past year, Heaven Hill has made tremendous efforts to support the communities where we live and work, the people who make up the Heaven Hill team and the industry as a whole, and this award recognizes those efforts and more.

In addition to receiving the Spirit of the Industry Award, our General Council & Chief Compliance Officer Jessica Pendergrass was named 2024 KDA Chair at annual meeting. Chris Morris, current KDA Chair, officially passed the gavel. Jes will start her term as Chair on January 1, 2024 and the term lasts through December 2024.

Jes first served as Chair in 2020, leading the KDA through the pandemic and helping to accomplish many tasks in a difficult time for the world. She was the third woman to ever serve as Chair of the KDA Board of Directors when she assumed the position in 2020. She left her mark on the industry in 2020 being the first woman to receive the KDA’s Esprit de Corps award for camaraderie in the distilled spirits industry in 2020 during her term as Chair. She also is the founder of the KDA’s DEI Advisory Panel to the distilled spirits industry and she led the formation of the KDA’s Lifting Spirits non-profit arm.

The Kentucky Distillers’ Association (KDA) is the first and only non-profit trade association dedicated to protecting Kentucky’s legacy in Bourbon and sharing it with the world. Established in 1880, the KDA brings together distillers, businesses, educators and governmental entities to advocate for our industry and ensure that Kentucky always remains the one true home of Bourbon. For the first time in 143 years, the KDA has more than 100 members.