Paul Neuberger has been named president of Greenfield-based insurance and risk solutions firm The Starr Group, and will begin in the role Dec. 1.
Tim Starr, current president and chief executive officer, will retain his CEO title, Starr said.
The decision to name Neuberger president came out of consulting work Neuberger was doing for The Starr Group via his sales coaching business, The Cold Call Coach, Starr said. Neuberger founded the business about two years ago to help sales teams via group and individual coaching, workshops and seminars. He will continue to operate that business, but on a more limited basis with automated training videos and occasional consulting, Neuberger said.
“First and foremost, it started out with us having extremely similar studies of human behavior and the psychology of sales,” Starr said. “Starr Group was looking at whether or not pure organic growth made sense or acquisitions, and … it became apparent to me that an incredible way to grow organically would be with someone like Paul. And there’s no one like Paul that I’ve ever met.”
Prior to founding the Cold Call Coach, Neuberger worked as a financial associate at Thrivent Financial, vice president of advancement at Marian University, major gift officer at Ripon College and vice president for advancement at Saint Thomas More High School. He holds a bachelor’s in biology from Ripon and a master’s in organizational quality and leadership from Marian.
In his new role, Neuberger will be responsible for leading the sales team, business development, marketing and contributing to the strategic plan with Tim Starr and his wife Mary, executive vice president at the family-owned company.
Tim and Mary Starr are 58, but aren’t considering retiring anytime soon, Tim Starr said. Nick Starr, Tim and Mary’s son, also works at The Starr Group as a producer on the sales team.
“It may be a part of the succession plan between (Neuberger) and Nick Starr, who is my son. It molds itself into a probable succession outcome,” he said.
Neuberger described the role as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
“The Starr Group was one of the very first organizational clients that took a chance on me through the Cold Call Coach,” Neuberger said. “Tim is like a father figure to me. I admire him, respect him, got to know Mary very well, got to know their operations very well. Tim brought this up. I was not looking for this; I was not seeking this.
“The good news is based upon the fiscal stewardship, the sound business decisions and really the conservative practices that Mary and Tim have deployed over the years, The Starr Group has the resources to grow.”
The Starr Group has 34 employees in Wisconsin, as well as four in China and 1.5 in Nebraska to complete its administrative work.
By handing part of his responsibilities to Neuberger, Starr will be able to focus on new product lines and overall strategy, he said.
“It allows me to continue in that direction as we’re kind of entering a whole new phase of risk quantification behavior,” Starr said. “It’s a whole other level dynamic in our industry that doesn’t exist right now, so it allows me to spend a lot more time in that realm while Paul is being frontline.”
