INDUSTRY DIRECTORY

Potatoes USA Elects New Leadership

Published online: Apr 09, 2016
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The Potatoes USA grower membership elected new leadership during its Annual Meeting held in Colorado Springs, Colo., March 14-17. During this meeting of the National Potato Promotion Board, the board members also approved a new strategic plan and voted to change the board’s DBA from U.S. Potato Board to Potatoes USA. Following is a list of the board’s leadership for the coming year.

Chairman

Mike Pink (Mesa, WA)

Immediate Past Chairman

Carl Hoverson (Larimore, N.D.)

Domestic Marketing Committee

Co-Chairmen

Jason Davenport (Arvin, CA)

Chris Wada (Idaho Falls, ID)

 

Committee Members

Molly Connors (Pasco, Wash.)

Marilyn Dolan-Public Member (Watsonville, Calif.)

Steve Elfering (Idaho Falls, Idaho)

Kristi Gunderson (Burlington, Wash.)

Eric Halverson (Grand Forks, N.D.)

Heidi Randall (Friesland, Wis.)

Jerry Tominaga (Rupert, Idaho)

Tyler Young (Little Compton, R.I.)

Research Committee

Co-Chairmen

Steve Gangwish (Kearney, NE)

Tim May (Imperial, NE)

 

Committee Members

Chris Hansen (Bliss, NY)

Sanjiv Kakkar (Trenton, NJ)

Eric Schroeder (Antigo, WI)

Craig Searle (Burley, ID)

John Stahl (Ritzville, WA)

 

 

International Marketing Committee

Co-Chairmen

John Halverson (Arbyrd, Mo.)

Doug Poe (Connell, Wash.)

 

Committee Members

Dan Chin (Klamath Falls, Ore.)

Bob Conger (Rexburg, Idaho)

Randi Hammer (Pasco, Wash.)

Brian Meisner (Wray, Colo.)

Dirk Parkinson (Saint Anthony, Idaho)

Brandon Schaapman (Quincy, Wash.)

Alex Tiede (American Falls, Idaho)

Weston Walker (Tulelake, Calif.)

Lynn Wilcox (Rexburg, Idaho)

 

Industry Outreach Committee

Co-Chairmen

Karlene Hardy (Oakley, Idaho)

Jay LaJoie (Van Buren, Maine)

 

Committee Members

Bryan Bender (Chambersburg, Pa.)

Justin Dagen (Karlstad, Minn.)

Laura Huddle (Napoleon, Ohio)

Steve Streich (Kalispell, Mont.)

David Tonso (Center, Colo.)

 

Finance Committee

Chairman

Phil Hickman (Horntown, Va.)

 

Committee Members

Casey Hoverson (Larimore, ND)

Prim Parker (Elkton, FL)

 

 

The Potatoes USA executive committee is comprised of the chairman, immediate past chairman and the chairmen of each committee. They are also part of the Potatoes USA administrative committee. The committee members serving on the domestic marketing, research, international marketing, industry outreach and finance committees are also members of the board’s administrative committee.

The marketing committees will work over the next year to guide how the Potatoes USA staff will implement the board’s marketing and promotion programs. These programs run on a July-through-June fiscal year. They are targeted at consumers, food manufacturers, chefs and nutritionists in the domestic market. In the targeted international markets, these programs engage importers and distributors, foodservice, food manufacturers, consumers and retailers.

Potatoes USA also provides leadership to the U.S. potato industry’s research efforts in potato variety development for potatoes destined for chips and fries and in potato nutrition.

Expanding awareness in the U.S. potato industry of these marketing and research programs to strengthen demand for potatoes is a key objective of the industry outreach committee.