Potatoes USA Elects New Leadership

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.

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.