Company: IPST
Filing Date: 2025-06-10
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001788230-25-000111
Chunk: 16

Company: Heritage Distilling Holding Company, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-06-10
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 16
---
 provides communications to the full Board or to individual directors, as appropriate. Certain items that are unrelated to the Board’s duties, such as spam, junk mail, mass mailings, solicitations, resumes, and job inquiries, are not provides.

Communications that are intended specifically for the Chair, independent directors, or the non-employee directors should be sent to the e-mail address or street address noted above, to the attention of the Chair.

Board Qualifications

The criteria for Board membership as adopted by the Board include a person’s integrity, knowledge, judgment, skills, expertise, collegiality, diversity of experience, and other time commitments (including positions on other company boards) in the context of the then-current composition of the Board. The Board has not adopted a specific set of minimum qualifications that are necessary for a nominee to possess. As a matter of practice, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee (the "NCG Committee") considers diversity in the context of the Board as a whole and considers the personal characteristics (gender, ethnicity, age) and experience (industry, professional, public service) of current and prospective directors to facilitate Board deliberations that reflect a broad range of perspectives. The NCG Committee is responsible for assessing the appropriate balance of skills brought to the Board by its members and ensuring that an appropriate mix of specialized knowledge (e.g., financial, industry, or technology) is represented on the Board.

Once the NCG Committee has identified a potential director nominee, the NCG Committee, in consultation with the Chief Executive Officer, evaluates the prospective nominee against the specific criteria that the Board has established. If the NCG Committee determines to proceed with further consideration, then members of the NCG Committee, the Chief Executive Officer, and other members of the Board, as appropriate, interview the prospective nominee. After completing this evaluation and interview, the NCG Committee makes a recommendation to the full Board, which makes the final determination whether to appoint the new director.

The NCG Committee will consider candidates for director recommended by stockholders and will evaluate those candidates using the criteria set forth above.

| 2025 Proxy Statement |     | 8 |     | Heritage Distilling Holding Company, Inc. |

Corporate Governance

Diversity of the Board

While we do not have a stand-alone diversity policy, in considering whether to recommend any director nominee, including candidates recommended by stockholders, we believe that the backgrounds and qualifications of the directors, considered as a group, should provide a significant mix of experience, knowledge, and abilities that will allow