Our Staff
President/Partner and Viticulturist
Mark Greenspan, Ph.D., CPAg, CCA
Mark has nearly three decades of viticultural experience, comprised of scientific, technical and practical field efforts. Mark’s academic background includes a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, an M.S. in Viticulture and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering, all from the University of California, Davis. He is one of very few private practitioners who have been elected as an honorary member of Gamma Sigma Delta, the agricultural honor society and is also a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. He holds CCA (Certified Crop Advisor) and CPAg (Certified Professional Agronomist) certifications from the American Society of Agronomy. He holds a Pest Control Advisor (PCA) license with the state of California. Mark is a regular contributor to wine industry publications, and has penned a viticulture column for Wine Business Monthly continuously since 2005. He served as President of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) from 2015 to 2016 and has been an active ASEV member for over 25 years. Advanced Viticulture was founded by Mark in 2005 as a one-man consulting firm. He has grown the company to the size of a nice, small, family-run business, greatly increasing the number of services provided to an ever-growing number of clients.
Vice President Of Vineyard Operations/Partner
Alec Roser
With over 20 vintages under his belt, Alec brings a vast experience with him to AV. Alec oversees vineyard management and vineyard developments for our company. Vineyard management started with only one 16-acre ranch in 2011, and has since grown into 350 acres under contract, with more acreage added every year. Alec has a keen eye for detail and is a craftsman when it comes to vineyard development. With Alec’s practical knowledge, can do attitude and a keen eye for quality, AV is able to offer professional vineyard services for high-end vineyards in Sonoma and surrounding counties..
Secretary, Co-Founder/Partner and Office Manager
Linda Shimizu-Greenspan
Linda was raised in the Northern Sacramento Valley, where she worked from a young age for her family’s business growing peaches, prunes, and tomatoes. After receiving her B.S. in Electrical/Electronic Engineering from CSU Chico, she worked as a Lead Engineer for Lockheed Missiles and Space Company. Since then, Linda has worked as a Hardware Design Engineer, Project Manager and Chief Engineer for several technology companies in the Bay Area. She also served as an Information Technology Consultant for an East Bay company. After leaving the world of electronics, she has come full circle back to the agriculture industry, where she has found a place at Advanced Viticulture, leveraging her skills in technology and project management. It is her meticulous attention to detail that allows her to assist with GIS mapping, form creation for field data input via tablet PC, database management, and project management.
Vineyard Supervisor
Juan Maya
Juan has worked in agriculture since 1996 and in vineyard management for most of that period, specifically across Napa, Sonoma, Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. Through his years of experience in different winegrowing regions and an inquisitive nature, Juan has been able to develop and refine practices that have met the varying needs of different clients. As vineyard supervisor, working in both the installation and management of vineyard for AV, he is able to apply the techniques developed over his career to meet the sophisticated needs of vineyards in Sonoma and neighboring regions.
Vineyard Supervisor
Mark Alvarez
Mark was born and raised in Sonoma County. After graduating from Geyserville High School, he pursued a passion for agriculture and never looked back. Mark has been involved in vineyard agriculture for the past 17 years as a vineyard supervisor and safety officer. Developing safety programs and managing vineyards and staff for such companies as Clos Du Bois, Buena Vista, Redwood Empire Vineyard Management and now currently Advanced Viticulture. “I’m lucky to do something I love to do and to work with people that I not only respect and admire but care about on a daily basis. That is what makes this company great: we are not only a team but a family.”
Director of Viticulture, Advanced Viticulture Consulting
Loni Lyttle
A native of Point Reyes Station in Marin County, Loni grew up eating good cheese and making jokes about her mother’s love of California Chardonnay. She attained a B.A. in Economics from Smith College in 2010. Though originally intent on going into banking, she opted to travel the world after graduation and soon found her calling in Piedmont, Italy, harvesting grapes and making wine with the locals. Loni worked as vineyard worker and English teacher while attending the University of Turin, graduating in 2014 with a second bachelors in Viticulture and Enology. She was hired as an Assistant Vineyard Manager for Ceretto Winery and began simultaneously working on her Masters in Viticulture and Enology at the University of Turin, finishing in 2018. She started with AV in 2019, where she puts her passion for grapevine physiology to work in all aspects of viticulture and with an eye towards fine wine production.
Senior Viticulturist, Advanced Viticulture
Jeff Baccus
Jeff entered the wine industry two decades ago with the intent to become a winemaker. After several vintages of wine production under his hat, Jeff had learned that the biggest impact on wine quality was made in the vineyard. In 2006, he exchanged his cellar boots for vineyard boots and never looked back. Since that time, Jeff has received a B.S. in Viticulture and Enology and an MBA from Sonoma State while overseeing some of the most sought-after vineyards along the true Sonoma Coast. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Vineyard Technical Group where he focuses on educating and promoting regenerative vineyard management practices. Prior to entering the wine industry, Jeff had a career as a software engineer working on the low levels of computer operating systems for both Apple and Sun Microsystems.
