Grower Leadership

Grassroots Driven, Member Led

As a grower-led organization, NPC is managed by an Executive Committee and Board of Directors, which oversees its operations and provides guidance on its policy activities. Board members are appointed by the Executive Committee from recommendations submitted by state potato grower organizations and hold office for one calendar year.

At NPC’s 2023 Washington Summit in D.C., RJ Andrus of Idaho Falls, Idaho was elected to serve as NPC’s President and to lead the organization’s Executive Committee for one year.

2023 Executive Committee

RJ Andrus

President

Idaho Falls, Idaho

Bob Mattive 

First Vice President and Vice President, Environmental Affairs

Monte Vista, Colorado

Ted Tschirky

Vice President, Trade Affairs

Pasco, Washington

Ben Sklarczyk

Vice President, Finance

Johannesburg, Michigan

Dean Gibson

Vice President, Legislative Affairs

Paul, Idaho

TJ Hall

Vice President, Grower Outreach and Industry Research

Hoople, North Dakota

Jared Balcom

Immediate Past President

Pasco, Washington


2023 Board of Directors

California

Sid Staunton​

Colorado

Miguel Diaz​
Tyler Mitchell​
Mark Peterson​
Harry Strohauer

Idaho

Nick Blanksma​
Mark Darrington​
Randy Hardy​
Eric Jemmett​
Brett Jensen​
Klaren Koompin​
Dan Moss​
Jaren Raybould​
Craig Searle​
Jason Stoddard​
Alex Tiede​
Ritchey Toevs​
Dillon VanOrden​
Lynn Wilcox​

Florida

Danny Johns​

Maine

Robbie Irving​
Darrell McCrum​

Michigan

Luke Parr​
Kevin Storm​

Minnesota

Lance Hapka​
Peter Imle

Montana

Dan Lake

Nebraska

Josh McBride​

New York

Ralph Child

North Carolina

Chris Hopkins

North Dakota

Tom Campbell​
Jackson Hall​
Brian Vculek ​

Ohio

Kathy Michael Sponheim

Oregon

Dan Chin​
Greg Harris​
Mark Ward

Pennsylvania

David Masser

Texas

Tyler Backemeyer​

Washington

Josh Bunger​
Ellie Charvet​
Heath Gimmestad​
Mark Hammer​
Roger Hawley​
Mike Madsen​
Grant Morris​
Chris Olsen​
Adam Weber​
Marvin Wollman​

Wisconsin

Mark Finnessy​
Jeremie Pavelski​
Eric Schroeder

More on this topic


The NPC Executive Committee hosted the 2023 NPC Washington Summit, Feb. 27-March 3, which brought the industry together to “Stand Up for Potatoes on Capitol Hill.” In addition to a week of education and advocacy, U.S. potato growers and industry partners celebrated the release of a new economic impact study that found the potato supply chain generated more than $100.9 billion in economic activity in 2021 alone. Read more about the 2023 Washington Summit here.