Consumer >> CEO Interviews >> January 27, 2003
MAX L. SHAPIRA is President of Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc. He
is the only son of Ed Shapira, one of the five brothers who
founded Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc., after Prohibition. Mr.
Shapira earned his undergraduate degree at Washington and Lee
University in 1965 and an MBA from the Harvard Business School in
1967. Following graduate school, he accepted a position at J.P.
Morgan & Co., Inc. After spending five years in corporate
finance, Mr. Shapira returned to his family's company in 1971 as
Director of Corporate Planning for Heaven Hill Distilleries.
Holding a variety of positions within the company, he ultimately
became President in 1996 following the death of his uncle David
Shapira, the last surviving member of the five founding brothers.
Mr. Shapira has overseen a period of rapid expansion that has
taken Heaven Hill Distilleries beyond its traditional roots as a
bourbon distiller to become the country's seventh largest overall
distilled spirits producer and marketer (and the largest
independent), with well-known, merchandisable brands in every
spirits category. In addition, under his watch Heaven Hill has
grown to become a major distilled spirits exporter with products
shipped to over 60 countries worldwide and a major bulk bourbon
supplier throughout the world. The continuity of leadership of
the Shapira family at Heaven Hill Distilleries through a third
generation is now assured with the recent appointment of Mr.
Shapira's daughter and son-in-law, Kate Shapira Latts and Allan
Latts, as Directors of Marketing Strategy and Corporate Planning,
respectively. Profile
Distilleries? Is it a private company at this point?
Mr. Shapira: Yes, it is. The company was founded in 1935 by my
father and his
