Inside Bardstown Bourbon Company: CEO ousted at least a half-dozen women executives
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Whistleblower suit alleges BBC ousted at least six female executives 2021–2024.
- Former HR VP claims company tolerated bias, safety violations and retaliation.
- Pritzker-linked leadership accused of ignoring complaints and enabling CEO misconduct.
From the outside, Bardstown Bourbon Company appeared to be thriving. It built an impressive roster of custom distilling clients in the past few years while other companies in the industry struggled, and it presented a polished and luxurious face to visitors.
But a recent whistleblower lawsuit filed by the former head of human resources presents a different picture — one of a toxic culture that repeatedly demeaned and ousted women employees, flouting the company’s own policies along the way.
At least six women executives were fired or driven to quit between fall 2021 and fall 2024, according to the lawsuit filed Feb. 13 in Nelson County by Sylvia Sanders. The suit includes wide-ranging allegations of sexism, racism, transphobia, falsified safety records, state alcohol violations and more.
Sanders, 62, served as Bardstown Bourbon Company’s vice president of human resources for 4 1/2 years, from November 2019 to May 2024, when she was abruptly fired and stripped of an equity stake after taking her concerns to Mark Erwin, who was CEO and president of Bardstown Bourbon Company before being elevated in 2025 to CEO of Lofted Spirits, the umbrella company over Bardstown Bourbon and Green River Distilling. Lofted says it is the largest contract distiller — a company that makes liquor for other companies to sell — in Kentucky.
Sanders claims the entire chain of ownership, from Bardstown Bourbon to Lofted to its ownership group, is to blame for the toxic and discriminatory workplace culture. She’s suing Bardstown Bourbon Company, its president, Peter Marino, its parent company, Lofted Spirits, Erwin, Lofted’s owner, Pritzker Private Capital, and Pritzker operating partner Christian Brickman for violating employment laws through gender discrimination, creating a hostile work environment, retaliation, wrongful discharge, defamation of character and other causes.
Pritzker Capital is owned by the prominent wealthy real estate family that includes Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a possible contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. Gov. Pritzker is not actively involved in the company.
The Herald-Leader contacted Bardstown Bourbon Company, Erwin and others mentioned in the complaint for comment on specific allegations.
A spokesperson for Bardstown Bourbon said in a statement, “As we have said previously, we believe these claims are without merit. We will vigorously defend ourselves during the legal process. We are not going to litigate this in the press. We will not comment on personnel matters of current or former employees as we treat these as confidential.
“We take personnel matters seriously and will continue to take all actions necessary to move our company forward with honesty, integrity, and trust.”
The company, founded in 2014, has not filed a response in court.
Erwin said in a statement, “The allegations against me and my team are false. We have substantial evidence to prove this and will vigorously defend ourselves in a court proceeding, not in the media.”
Sanders declined to comment, but her lawyer, James Morris, told the Herald-Leader, “This has been a very serious problem for an extended time period at the highest levels.”
‘Intentional and systemic’ discrimination alleged
In her lawsuit, Sanders says she was consistently given favorable reviews of her job performance, including a handwritten note of thanks from Erwin just months before he fired her.
Written policies of BBC and parent Pritzker Capital claim they are equal opportunity employers that “maintain an open door policy for the reporting of discrimination and harassment,” forbidding retaliation in bold all-caps letters in the company policy book, according to the complaint.
As vice president for human resources, Sanders was responsible for enforcing those policies and reporting to higher-ups “all such conduct — even when such conduct was being meted out by the BBC President and/or BBC CEO,” according to the complaint.
But when she came to executives at Bardstown Bourbon Company and Pritzker with “intentional and systemic concerns of widespread discrimination, illegal and unethical activities, fraudulent and false data and information supplied to official entities, taking place within BBC under apparently authority (of Pritzker) — primarily caused and condoned by Erwin and/or caused by Erwin’s lack of competency,” she was terminated almost immediately.
Among Sanders’ claims is that Erwin refused to hire a qualified candidate for chief financial officer because he stated the candidate was “too old.”
In another allegation, Erwin refused to hire a qualified Black woman for general counsel, instead selecting a less-qualified white male candidate.
When Black candidates were hired, Sanders alleges, Erwin “took direct actions designed to deride and degrade the employee, directly related to the individual’s minority status.”
And when Pritzker bought BBC in 2022, Erwin made “derogatory comments and slurs regarding Jennifer Pritzker, the transgender relative of Gov. J.B. Pritzker … assuring (Green River Distilling) employees, in a derogatory fashion, that they need not worry; that it was not ‘that he/she Pritzker.’”
And the toxic atmosphere was one that permitted employees to arrive at work under the influence of drugs or alcohol or become intoxicated while at work with little repercussions, Sanders alleges.
Sanders’ complaint contains myriad other allegations, including that underage employees were served drinks during work hours and the company was falsifying federal workplace safety records by excluding multiple work accidents.
But most of Sanders’ allegations are related to claims that Erwin gave preferential treatment to men over women in the workplace. According to the complaint, Erwin fired or threatened to fire all the women executives in the company during Sanders’ tenure.
Sanders says she repeatedly raised concerns about “these and countless other of Erwin’s egregious and belligerent behavior” toward women executives but no action was taken, except to isolate Sanders and her HR team from executive decisions and meetings.
Brad Paisley and a ‘pushy woman’
In August 2021, marketing director Laurel Altman was allegedly fired after she made an anti-vaccine comment on social media.
But her real sin, according to the complaint, was she tried to sit between Erwin and country music singer Brad Paisley at a publicity shoot.
The country music singer came to Bardstown Bourbon Company to launch a bourbon brand called American Highway Reserve in 2021 in collaboration with BBC.
Marketing often includes a mix of faces to appeal to multiple demographics. This shoot ended up being all white men, except one female hand raising a drink. In the finished video, Erwin is shown next to Paisley.
In the complaint, Sanders says when she attempted to point out to Erwin that firing Altman “was not in keeping with BBC’s past practices with similarly situated male employees” Erwin cut her off, started yelling at her, saying that he’d hired Sanders and another female employee and that Sanders “had better not accuse him of being a ‘sexist.’”
According to the complaint, Erwin started to call Altman a “pushy (partial expletive)” before catching himself and saying to Sanders, “aren’t you glad I stopped myself,” adding that her conduct was that of “pushy woman.”
Fired after reporting boss as sexual predator
In April 2022, Altman’s replacement, Brooke Berry, raised concerns to Sanders about Berry’s boss, Herb Heneman, according to the complaint. Berry thought Heneman was “a sexual predator, and that his inappropriate sexist actions and comments (which had already been the subject of prior disciplinary action) made Berry feel extremely uncomfortable,” the complaint alleges.
Erwin soon after “suddenly complained that Berry was, like so many other women, a ‘pushy woman,’ and insisted that she, likewise, needed to be immediately terminated,” Sanders alleges.
Over Sanders’ objections, Berry was fired “without any legitimate business reason and directly related to Erwin’s attempt to cover up the ongoing discrimination.”
Heneman denied all allegations in this story.
Berry did not respond to a request for comment.
CFO fired for being ‘emotional’
In August 2023, another woman executive, Ingrid Gentry, then BBC’s chief financial officer, was fired, Sanders says, after “she pushed back on Erwin’s ongoing gender discrimination.”
Erwin fired Gentry for being too “emotional,” again over Sanders’ objections, this time because Gentry had a medical condition.
According to Sanders’ complaint, Gentry threatened to sue, citing unfairness at the company.
“I told her to consider that she was being paid a large sum of money as she left the company, and money is all there is to get,” Sanders says she told Erwin. “I knew there was no way to save her job.”
Sanders later told Erwin that Gentry “could have sued BBC (and would have won) based solely upon the difference between how men and women are being treated by BBC under Erwin’s direction due to the ongoing blatant nature of the discrimination that was taking place at BBC and under the apparent or actual authority of Pritzker.”
Gentry declined to comment to the Herald-Leader.
Hospitality director forced out
In December 2023, Erwin wanted to fire Kimberly Bennett, vice president of hospitality, according to Sanders’ complaint. At the time, Marino, the company president, intervened and suggested he supervise Bennett instead of having her report to Erwin. But, Sanders alleges, Erwin continued to engage in a concerted effort to push Bennett to resign.
Bennett eventually was forced out and “has since alleged that Erwin and (BBC) engaged in gender-based discrimination and retaliation against Bennett and similarly situated female employees, including (Sanders),” according to the complaint.
Bennett did not respond to a request for comment.
‘Cannot stand his abuse anymore’
In 2024, Erwin also went after another woman executive, Susan Garvin, then-vice president of contract sales, engaging in “such improper gender-bias, and efforts to alienate and discriminate against high-level female executive employees, that (Garvin) ultimately quit her position” shortly after Sanders was fired, according to the complaint.
Garvin allegedly told Marino “she could not stand to work with Mark Erwin anymore,” Sanders says in the filing. “Despite loving this company and having a personal and company provided equity stake, she cannot stand his abuse anymore.”
Garvin did not respond to a request for comment.
Sanders alleges she warned Marino, a former Molson Coors executive who was hired in mid-2023, that the company was “a house of cards.” But Marino never took action, she says.
In fact, in February 2024, after then-CFO Gentry expressed concerns that Erwin was biased against women employees, Sanders alleges, Erwin gathered Garvin, Sanders and another woman executive, Hannah Diaz, together with Marino “to lecture the female vice presidents about how Erwin ‘was not biased toward women at BBC’ and doesn’t engage in ‘gender bias.’”
Sanders says she later advised Erwin and Marino that “it was a poor decision to lecture senior-level women about Erwin purportedly not having a gender bias,” especially given Sanders’ knowledge of the numerous complaints against him.
She says she was told to “stop talking about that stuff.”
Eight pages of accusations
In March 2024, Sanders says, she tried again to take concerns to Marino. This time, he “expressed a purported desire to address the concerns, though he noted, ‘It will not be easy,’ it would put him in a bad situation, and he would need to think about a proper strategy to bring these serious concerns to light,” according to the complaint.
Less than a week later, at Erwin’s weekly leadership meeting, Erwin asked all team members to send an email outlining any concerns and how the senior staff could do their best work. Sanders thought this was Marino’s way of giving her an opening to note the company’s problems.
So Sanders prepared a detailed, eight-page report outlining “ongoing gender bias, blatant discrimination, retaliation and other improprieties” and emailed it to Erwin.
Sanders said she told Erwin in the report he had “punish(ed) (her) for being an outspoken woman. ... You cited (Altman’s) pushiness and that you didn’t like she sat between you and Brad Paisley. … You have talked about firing Hannah, Susie and Kim — all the senior female leaders in the company. What we all have in common, which makes us senior leaders, is that we are assertive, opinionated and want to lead our functions. You like women who take your orders and do not offer opinions unless asked.”
Sanders also detailed 10 examples of male employees who faced lesser repercussions from Bardstown Bourbon Company and Pritzker after serious allegations, as well as preferential treatment.
This memo, included as an exhibit in the complaint, includes:
- A male employee who had illicit drinking parties of BBC products at Pete’s Place, an on-site bar used for barrel selections.
- Two male employees in the distillery restaurant who mixed trays of drinks then passed them out to staff, some of whom were under legal drinking age, while customers were still on site. A woman manager who saw this on camera and reported it was allegedly reprimanded.
- An employee who got so drunk while leading a trivia game in the restaurant, he smashed into another car in the parking lot before driving off. The company later paid for repairs at the insistence of Sanders, who says in the complaint she tried to stop the employee from leaving the scene.
- Heneman, the manager whose employee accused him of being a sexual predator, insisted a female employee drink shots to be “part of the team” at an event representing the company in 2021. Two female employees filed complaints about the incident. Sanders says in the complaint Erwin told her Heneman also took another employee’s jeep and drove it through BBC’s cornfield drunk during Brad Paisley’s visit. According to the complaint, Erwin said he “probably should have said something to him about that.” Instead, Erwin promoted Heneman to chief marketing officer, gave him 100 barrels of whiskey and shares in the company, Sanders alleges.
Heneman said in a written response to the Herald-Leader: “I unequivocally deny these allegations, which are untrue and unsupported by evidence. I am not party to this litigation and I will not comment further while this litigation is pending.”
Heneman was eventually fired from his post as executive vice president of sales and marketing in 2024 at the insistence of Pritzker Private Capital, according to the filing.
The employee Sanders says was involved in a hit-and-run has since been promoted.
Fallout from the memo
Soon after sending the report, Sanders says, she was notified by Erwin that she would be terminated after a 60-day transition, because she was “not the right fit anymore.”
Sanders attempted to go over Erwin’s head, sending a detailed email to Chris Brickman at Pritzker, including the original March memo she’d sent to Erwin.
“Considering that Mark is the CEO, I have no choice but to elevate this issue to PPC,” Sanders wrote. “As the VP of HR, I cannot ignore what has happened to me and others at BBCo.”
Sanders begged Brickman to intervene for the good of the company: “Mark has fired or threatened to fire all senior women at the company. … There are a lot of great people and opportunity for equity creation with this business. But it’s also a house of cards, because we have been operating in backward ways, without teamwork, respect and professional and consistent decision-making across the organization. Please help.”
Brickman did not respond directly to Sanders. But two days later, representatives of Pritzker “showed up at the BBC facilities unannounced, met with Erwin for most of the day, and Sanders was abruptly escorted from BBC premises at the direction of Pritzker and BBC and was placed on leave through May 17, 2024, when her employment was terminated,” according to the complaint.
She was offered a severance package worth at least $200,000 and an eventual buyout of equity in the company if she would agree to keep silent.
Erwin reminded her she wouldn’t receive equity if she spoke out against the company.
Sanders declined anyway.
“He took satisfaction in telling me I wasn’t worthy of company-provided equity. That was my punishment for being outspoken and disagreeing with him,” Sanders wrote to Brickman in a letter included in her lawsuit. “I have thought long and hard about signing the severance agreement and just going away, but as the VP of HR, I cannot ignore what has happened to me and others at BBCo.
“There is no amount of money in a severance offer that would have kept me from elevating my concerns. ... It’s just the right thing to do.”
This story was originally published March 2, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
