Asheville's Highland Brewing Presented with Visit North Carolina Award
Mar 18, 2026 09:38AM ● By WNC Business
At a luncheon featuring Gov. Josh Stein and NC Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley, Visit North Carolina presented the Esse Quam Videri Award to Highland Brewing and Leah Wong Ashburn, its president and CEO, for the impactful contributions of this bulwark Asheville business. Award presentations are a highlight of the annual Visit NC Tourism Conference, which continues through Wednesday at the Omni Grove Park Inn.
Also honored at the conference with entry into Visit NC’s longstanding Winners Circle:
Esse Quam Videri
Ashburn became president of Highland Brewery in 2015. Founded in 1994 by her father, the late Oscar Wong, Highland was Asheville’s first post-Prohibition brewery and the foundation for its rise to “Beer City USA” acclaim. Today, Highland is the largest independent, family-owned brewery native to the Southeast, and its 40-acre campus serves as a hub for residents and travelers who come for concerts, disc golf, volleyball and events as well as beer.
Like her father, Ashburn applies the brewery’s “thirst for good” mission to the beer, community partnerships and sustainability.
“Highland and its founding family embody ‘Esse Quam Videri,’ our state motto, which translates as ‘to be, rather than to seem,’ ” said Wit Tuttell, Visit NC’s executive director. “It’s action over words, authenticity over appearance. Leah learned this principle from her father, and it’s part of the core values that have served them in business and beyond.
“Consider the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Even as Highland was recovering from the storm, Leah transformed the brewery campus into something of a relief center, sharing space and resources with World Central Kitchen and Wine to Water, raising money for community assistance, and contributing in countless other ways. Her work led to a White House invitation from President Biden, Person of the Year honors from Brewbound, and a recent appointment to Gov. Stein’s Advisory Committee on Western NC Recovery.”
Ashburn, a member of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Visitors, has served on the boards of the NC Brewers Guild, the Asheville Chamber, the Buncombe County Tourism Authority, Riverlink and AB Tech Community College. She has received the Asheville Chamber of Commerce’s Woman Executive of the Year honors and semi-finalist status in the James Beard Foundation’s Beer, Wine or Spirits Professional category. The recognition echoes that of her father, who was the US Small Business Administration’s 2012 Person of the Year for NC and a 2023 inductee into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest award for state service granted by the Office of the Governor
The Esse Quam Videri award was established in 2019. Previous honorees include James and Amanda Keith of the NuWray Hotel in Burnsville, Halifax businesswoman Glenn Patterson Wilson, the High Point Market Authority, Old Fort’s trailblazing Catawba Vale Collective, and Kinston business leaders Stephen Hill of Mother Earth Brewing and Vivian Howard of Chef & the Farmer.
Source: Visit North Carolina.
Also honored at the conference with entry into Visit NC’s longstanding Winners Circle:
- Whitney Knollenberg, associate professor and Extension leader with the NC State University Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management.
- Gunther Jochl, president and owner of Sugar Mountain Resort.
- Becky Anderson, founding director of HandMade in America and Blue Ridge National Heritage Area board member.
Esse Quam Videri
Ashburn became president of Highland Brewery in 2015. Founded in 1994 by her father, the late Oscar Wong, Highland was Asheville’s first post-Prohibition brewery and the foundation for its rise to “Beer City USA” acclaim. Today, Highland is the largest independent, family-owned brewery native to the Southeast, and its 40-acre campus serves as a hub for residents and travelers who come for concerts, disc golf, volleyball and events as well as beer.
Like her father, Ashburn applies the brewery’s “thirst for good” mission to the beer, community partnerships and sustainability.
“Highland and its founding family embody ‘Esse Quam Videri,’ our state motto, which translates as ‘to be, rather than to seem,’ ” said Wit Tuttell, Visit NC’s executive director. “It’s action over words, authenticity over appearance. Leah learned this principle from her father, and it’s part of the core values that have served them in business and beyond.
“Consider the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Even as Highland was recovering from the storm, Leah transformed the brewery campus into something of a relief center, sharing space and resources with World Central Kitchen and Wine to Water, raising money for community assistance, and contributing in countless other ways. Her work led to a White House invitation from President Biden, Person of the Year honors from Brewbound, and a recent appointment to Gov. Stein’s Advisory Committee on Western NC Recovery.”
Ashburn, a member of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Visitors, has served on the boards of the NC Brewers Guild, the Asheville Chamber, the Buncombe County Tourism Authority, Riverlink and AB Tech Community College. She has received the Asheville Chamber of Commerce’s Woman Executive of the Year honors and semi-finalist status in the James Beard Foundation’s Beer, Wine or Spirits Professional category. The recognition echoes that of her father, who was the US Small Business Administration’s 2012 Person of the Year for NC and a 2023 inductee into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest award for state service granted by the Office of the Governor
The Esse Quam Videri award was established in 2019. Previous honorees include James and Amanda Keith of the NuWray Hotel in Burnsville, Halifax businesswoman Glenn Patterson Wilson, the High Point Market Authority, Old Fort’s trailblazing Catawba Vale Collective, and Kinston business leaders Stephen Hill of Mother Earth Brewing and Vivian Howard of Chef & the Farmer.
Source: Visit North Carolina.