Phil Perkins
Solaster LLC, President & CEO
The most successful innovations happen when industry, academia, and entrepreneurs come together around a shared vision for what’s next in food and beverage.
Education/Experience
A retired C-suite executive and global product innovation leader in the food and beverage industry, with deep experience spanning corporate, entrepreneurial, and academic roles. He founded The FoodBev Forum to bring together industry, academic, and government leaders around the future of food and beverage, and previously served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tennessee, teaching Leadership and Professional Development. He is also co-owner of Knox Whiskey Works and the Florida Moonshine Company, where he continues to apply his expertise in innovation and growth.
Social Accounts
Biography
Phil Perkins is a retired C-suite executive with a proven record of creating, developing, and launching successful new products in the food and beverage space. Over the course of his career, he has helped build and guide advisory boards across multiple industries, including food, beverage, packaging, academia, heavy industry, and physical therapy. Phil founded and led a Technical Advisory Board at Bush Brothers that was later highlighted as a model example at the 2014 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) meeting.
In 2014, Phil created The FoodBev Forum, a collaboration of industry, academic, and government leaders committed to shaping the future of the food and beverage industry and igniting positive change. He continues to advise organizations on how to design and leverage advisory boards to accelerate innovation and strategic decision-making.
He specializes in product and ingredient innovation for Fortune 500, mid-sized, and start-up companies. He has worked with more than 150 food, ingredient, and packaging companies across 20 countries in Europe, Central and South America, Africa, Australia, India, and the Far East, giving him a truly global commercial and technical perspective.
In addition to his corporate and consulting work, Phil has served on several association and non-profit boards and has been deeply involved in leadership development and education. He served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tennessee, teaching Leadership and Professional Development, and has been a guest lecturer at six universities in China.
Mr Perkins is also an entrepreneur and co-owner of two alcoholic beverage companies: Knox Whiskey Works and the Florida Moonshine Company, where he continues to apply his expertise in brand building, product development, and go-to-market strategy.
Areas of Expertise
- Strategic planning
- Establishing and serving on boards
- New business development
- New product technology development
- Open innovation
- Food and beverage industry
