StarrGreen

Andy Starr, founder of StarrGreen, is an entrepreneur, marketing manager and winemaker with over 30 years of start-up and large company experience in identifying innovative, profitable new business opportunities, and creating and building the organizations to meet their needs.  Andy works in wine, beverage alcohol, and green technologies.

 

Best known as Founder and President of Neocork Technologies, Inc., Andy created a company that developed, manufactured and marketed a line of pioneering synthetic wine cork products.  He identified and led each stage of the business life cycle in a competitive high-growth market, from early business plan development to research and development, commercialization, mass production, and market maturation.  To the surprise of many in the tradition-oriented wine industry, he accurately projected the worldwide market adoption of synthetic corks.

 

With assistance of his network of technical experts, Andy has written and executed business plans for a wide range of early stage companies in the greentech and wine sectors, including Phyterra Yeast, a biotech company commercializing new wine yeasts; Koloa Rum, Kauai’s first premium rum facility; and biodegradable GreenCell wine shippers.  Andy assisted PlastiPure to message and market its leading-edge technology to make plastic and other human contact products free of toxic chemicals.  Other engagements include Cogenra (solar cogeneration), Scholle (beverage packaging), JottShots (gel shots) and many more.  Andy learned the new product development process from several years in marketing management at office supplies leader Avery Dennison.

 

His enological experience includes six years as a winemaker at facilities in California, Israel and Australia, highlighted by two years as the trophy-winning head winemaker at the Golan Heights Winery, Israel's first super-premium winery.  Andy received a BS degree in Fermentation Science from U.C. Davis, as the youngest member of his graduating class.  He completed an MBA with a marketing emphasis from UCLA.

 

A native Californian, Andy lives in Napa Valley, California with his wife Debbie, and their two children.  He serves as Board Chair and Treasurer for VOENA, one of America’s most innovative children’s choirs.