​​Local business publication recognizes Heaven Hill Chief Financial Officer

Congratulations, Will Rives, for being named a 2020 Louisville Business First Forty Under 40 honoree! Each year, the publication honors 40 young professionals under the age of 40 who are making major strides in their careers while leaving positive marks on their communities. According to Louisville Business First Editor, Shea Van Hoy, “This class is a special one, not just for the talent, drive and diversity of its members, but also because this is the 25th year for LBF’s Forty Under 40.” The latest class includes professionals from an array of industries and professions from across the Metro Louisville area. Will was chosen from a pool of more than 500 nominees with impressive resumes who play a major role in making the city a more vibrant place. 

Will attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in Economics & Business Administration and a Master of Science in Accountancy. After several internships with Deloitte and receiving his CPA license, Will joined Deloitte full time after graduation. During his approximately seven years serving the Louisville and broader Kentucky marketplace, he helped clients with technical accounting and audit issues and participated in business-focused special projects. The broad industry and client exposure allowed him to learn more about different businesses, different roles in organizations, and different ways of managing teams and people.

Heaven Hill was one of his clients while he worked for Deloitte and he was fortunate to be able to transition into a newly created position at Heaven Hill, Manager of Corporate Analysis. He wanted to shift his focus from technical accounting to business analysis and strategy, and this new position provided the perfect opportunity for that. As the second largest holder of aging Bourbon, he was tasked with helping to navigate the American Whiskey renaissance and ensuring the company had enough Bourbon to bottle its core and strategic brands, including forecasting the usage of over 1.2 million barrels of whiskey at the time.

A few years into his career at Heaven Hill, he helped form the Financial, Planning, and Analysis (FP&A) team supporting corporate growth and goal achievement across all functional departments, including operations, administration, and commercial. The FP&A team has grown to be a nine-person team in five short years, serving as a financially minded partner to the business- providing data, insights, and analytics in a more robust manner than existed before. In addition, he has helped lead the company through four transformative acquisitions and subsequent integration into the business. This required him to understand other businesses and brands, determine how we could successfully manage those brands and/or operations, and what value they would create for Heaven Hill.

When Mark Pulliam announced his intentions to retire in mid-2019, Will was offered the opportunity to take over his position and continue building upon Heaven Hill’s success. In his role as Chief Financial Officer, he participates in overall corporate strategy and management as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, while having direct oversight and responsibility for Accounting, Treasury, FP&A, and IT.

Outside of work, Will serves on the Regional Board of Directors for Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana teaching programs at schools, participating in fundraising for current and future programs, and promoting all aspects of the organization. Will is a Louisville native and St. Xavier High School graduate. He and his wife, Emily have two daughters, Klarer who is 3 years old and Anna who is 11 months old. In his free time, he loves spending time with his family, all of whom live within miles of each other, and playing golf, which he had the opportunity to play competitively in college, and still carries a 4 handicap.

We’re so proud to have Will as part of the Heaven Hill family. Join us in congratulating him on this great accomplishment! See the entire gallery of 2020 Forty Under 40 honorees here. ​