2025 Spudman Impact Award winners
We are proud to present the recipients of Spudman’s Impact Awards. From policy advocates to marketing mavens to those who do a little bit of everything, these honorees inspire industry achievement and excellence.
HOLLEE ALEXANDER
Vice president, industry relations and events, National Potato Council
Hometown: Arlington, Virginia
Hollee Alexander has long been an enthusiast about two things: potatoes and politics.
Alexander, vice president of industry relations and events for the National Potato Council (NPC), has loved potatoes since she was a child. Her spud affinity, coupled with her degree in political science from Old Dominion University, led her to a career path advocating for potatoes.
“The idea of combining my passion for this versatile crop with my skills in policy and advocacy was incredibly exciting,” Alexander said. “It’s been fulfilling to work in an industry that not only grows an essential food but also works tirelessly to ensure its voice is heard in the policy landscape.”
Alexander celebrated her 20th anniversary with NPC in 2022 — the year she was named Spudman magazine’s Spudwoman of the Year. Industry peers who nominated her and judges who selected her were impressed with her numerous achievements, including her shepherding of NPC’s biggest event, the Potato Expo, through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Expo navigated logistical challenges to return to an in-person event in 2021, with Alexander leading the way.
From its roots attracting 800 attendees in its inaugural year, the Expo has grown into a premier industry event, drawing a record 2,320 attendees to Austin, Texas, in 2024.
“It’s such an energizing experience to bring together people from every corner of the potato industry to share ideas, celebrate successes and collaborate for the future. From developing the program to coordinating all the moving pieces, I love seeing everything come together,” Alexander said. “The Expo is where we showcase industry innovations, build connections and spark new ideas. Watching attendees leave with fresh insights, valuable connections and renewed enthusiasm for the industry is incredibly rewarding, and it reminds me of the impact we can make when we work together.”
Alexander also takes pride in the advocacy work she’s done, inspired by her biggest influence: potato growers.
“Their resilience, dedication and passion for what they do have always inspired me,” she said. “Seeing the hard work and commitment growers put into their crops, often through challenging conditions, motivates me to do my best in supporting them.”
Alexander tries to follow the best advice she’s received — to never be afraid to try something new — as “being open to experimentation is essential to staying relevant and driving the industry forward,” she said.
Her advice for other industry leaders boils down to the power of working together.
“My top industry tip is to invest time in building strong relationships and collaborations — and never underestimate the power of telling your story on Capitol Hill,” she said. “The potato industry is a community, and the connections you make can open doors to new ideas and opportunities for growth.”
DAVIS CHRISTENSEN
Owner (retired) and board member, Idaho Steel Products
Hometown: Shelley, Idaho
Potatoes have always been a family affair for Davis Christensen.
The owner of Idaho Steel Products was born and raised on an Idaho potato farm, and his father-in-law, Lynn Bradshaw, scaled up that lifelong love by giving him the opportunity to join Idaho Steel, which marked its 100th year as a potato processing equipment pioneer in 2018.
“My family has been tied to the potato industry for generations, working in both farming and fresh pack operations, so it was something I grew up with and understood from a young age,” Christensen said. “(Idaho Steel) felt like a natural continuation of my family’s legacy in this industry, and I’ve never looked back.”
Christensen carried that feeling of family through decades of industry service as co-owner of Idaho Steel Products and Reyco Systems before his April 2024 retirement. While Christensen continues to serve on the companies’ board, his son, Jon Christensen, carries on his legacy as Idaho Steel’s vice president of sales and marketing.
“There’s something special about working with family, building something together that we can all be proud of,” Davis Christensen said. “And it’s not just my own family; it’s the Idaho Steel family and everyone in the industry who’s part of this journey. Seeing my son Jon choose to be involved and make his own mark in the industry has been a great joy.”
Christensen’s proudest career moment came from creating another partnership. Nearly 30 years ago, Idaho Steel formed a strategic alliance with fellow processors Reyco Systems and Kiremko to create one groundbreaking brand with production facilities in the U.S. and the Netherlands.
“That partnership turned out to be even more meaningful than I could have imagined, as it’s been built not just on business but on the trust and commitment of partners who are like brothers,” Christensen said.
In keeping with the family theme, Christensen cites his father, Dewey Christensen, along with Bradshaw as his biggest influences because of their dedication and hard work. He also honors his roots when selecting his favorite potato variety.
“Growing up in Shelley, Idaho, where the Russet is king, it’s in my blood,” he said. “There’s nothing quite like the versatility and quality of a good Idaho Russet, and I take a lot of pride in it as a local.”
Christensen has tried to treat others well as he’s carved out a memorable career in the potato industry.
“I take great pride in knowing we’re helping to bring food to people’s tables, from farm to table, and that every step of the process is filled with hard work and dedication,” he said. “Being part of an industry that feeds the world and knowing the integrity that goes into every part of it — that’s incredibly rewarding.”
TODD FEENSTRA
Executive director, Midwest Water Stewards
Hometown: Elkhart, Indiana
Water is of essential importance to the potato industry, and the crucial resource is what solidified Todd Feenstra’s connection to the crop.
Feenstra, executive director of environmental organization Midwest Water Stewards and a licensed and certified professional geologist, delved into potatoes in 2008, when new Michigan legislation brought crop irrigation front and center in water use and rights discussions.
“Essentially, a simplified model was created that predicted enormous amounts of streamflow depletion due to pumping high-capacity irrigation wells,” Feenstra said. “The model predictions did not match the growers’ personal observations in their fields and the streams near their farms. We were asked to step in to help verify the impacts of pumping on the aquifers and the surface waters.”
Through work funded by growers, Midwest Water Stewards established a network of dedicated monitoring wells and surface water measurement sites. The network currently includes 230 monitoring wells and more than 450 stream sites, with the first wells installed now boasting more than 10 years of continuous data to draw from.
“Without question, the growers we get to work with are the greatest thing about my job,” Feenstra said. “It is incredibly rewarding to work with these families who care deeply about the environment and their communities. They are true stewards of the water resources.”
Feenstra also appreciates a job that gets him out from behind a desk for the field work that “gives us sound professional judgement, makes us so effective at analysis and modeling, and gives us great credibility in meetings and discussions. We speak from a place of deep expertise and practical experience.”
Demonstrating that expertise is the best part of his job, Feenstra said. During organizational field days, students, legislators, growers and educators are invited to experience a firsthand glimpse of what Midwest Water Stewards does.
“We give them our equipment, put them in the streams and in the farm fields with pivots and monitoring wells, and teach them to collect the data,” Feenstra said. “It is incredibly rewarding to watch them light up and learn, and the return on our investment in their education is priceless.”
For the past decade, Feenstra’s organization has worked closely with hydrogeologic experts at Tritium to monitor water resources and ensure their responsible, sustainable use. Feenstra takes pride in that collaboration, which has helped create “a reputation as experts that never compromise the truth or the science,” he said.
Named the Michigan Potato Industry Commission’s Outstanding Industry Partner in 2021, Feenstra strives to follow the best advice he’s ever received: “Work hard, be humble. Find value in everyone.”
DON FLANNERY
Executive director (retired), Maine Potato Board
Hometown: Fort Fairfield, Maine
Don Flannery’s first promotion in the came at the age of 12 potato industry and cemented his spud-centered career.
Growing up hand-harvesting potatoes in Maine’s Aroostook County, Flannery graduated to tractor and truck driver as a preteen.
“I was sold! Never really wanted to do anything else but work in the potato industry,” he said. “Throughout high school and college, I was always exploring opportunities in the potato industry, and along the way I met so many great people.”
In his 27 years of service on the Maine Potato Board, Flannery witnessed many industry changes, including an evolution from reliance on the hands-on labor of his youth to increasing use of technology, including artificial intelligence. When a local reporter recently asked him to name the biggest change he’s seen in his career, Flannery replied: “Everything.”
“My advice for anyone in this industry is: Be prepared to change. It will happen,” he said. “Those that are involved and agreeable to change will be better off than those that aren’t involved and resist change.”
During his board tenure, Flannery helped secure federal and state funding for agricultural projects, including the construction of a potato research facility and infrastructure for potato processing plants.
“The one thing that I am proudest of is that when faced with the closure of Maine’s early generation seed production facility, the MPB directors made the commitment to take over the facility,” he said. “Seed is the backbone of all potato production, and today, the facility is stronger than ever and is ready to support the Maine potato industry well into the future.”
Flannery’s favorite variety is the Caribou Russet because of its taste and resistance to disease and drought. It doesn’t hurt that the variety was developed at the University of Maine, “but that is not the only reason it is my favorite,” he said. “It is because of the impact this variety has had on the Maine potato industry. It has been a true game changer in both the processing and fresh market sector.”
Flannery credits his three uncles — two potato growers and a dairy farmer — with instilling the importance of hard work and land stewardship. At an August dinner marking his October retirement, those attributes were honored in tributes from dignitaries including Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King.
“It was a great honor to work for and with so many people with the goal of strengthening the industry and overcoming obstacles,” Flannery said. “It has been wonderful to build some friendships with people in the industry outside of Maine. These connections allowed me to be better at my job and be more effective in creating opportunities and solving issues on behalf of the industry.”
ALAN MUELLER
Board chair, Volm Companies
Hometown: Idaho Falls, Idaho
In the spring of 1978, musical groups including The Police and Van Halen released their debut albums, while Grease topped movie box offices. And Alan Mueller began a career with Volm Companies, a fresh produce and frozen food packager founded in Wisconsin in 1954, that has spanned nearly half a century.
In his first years with the business, Mueller’s responsibilities included truck driving and warehouse duties, along with direct sales to the potato and onion industries. He would go on to handle responsibilities including establishing a division serving retail clothing stores, sales to the cranberry industry and sales of agrichemicals to the vegetable canning industry.
Mueller has also overseen a division for the contract application of soil fumigation, the machine division, a national sales and marketing campaign, and machine manufacturing in the Netherlands. In addition, he has served as a president of the associate division of the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association and as a board/ committee member of the associate division of the national Produce Marketing Association.
Mueller’s lengthy and diverse career began after marrying his wife, Deborah.
“Her father, Gerald Volm, started lobbying me to come to work at Volm Companies, which he had founded,” Mueller said. “Since I grew up on a corn and beef farm in South Dakota, I was interested in the opportunity to work in and with the farming industry.”
Mueller names both his and Deborah’s parents as inspirations because of their business sense, work ethic and strong faith.
“I enjoy the partnering relationships that I’ve been able to make with a lot of very good friends throughout my 46 years with Volm Companies,” Mueller said. “I have worked in many different roles and have had the opportunity to participate in establishing and growing successful new business divisions.”
BRET NEDROW
Senior director, global raw procurement, J.R. Simplot Co.
Hometown: Ashton, Idaho
Potatoes are in Bret Nedrow’s blood.
Born and raised on a potato farm to second-generation (mother Mary) and first-generation (dad Dick) seed growers, Nedrow felt destined to make the industry his career.
“You could say there is potato juice instead of blood running through my veins,” said Nedrow, whose career with international agriculture company J.R. Simplot began in 2020.
After completing his graduate degree at the University of Idaho, Nedrow went straight to work with spuds as a raw inspection supervisor for Nestle USA. At Simplot, he’s held roles including raw product procurement manager, senior manager of raw development and sustainability and director of raw product. In his current role, he leads Simplot Global Food’s raw procurement team.
Nedrow’s experience at Simpot has given him a global perspective on the importance of potatoes through encounters with coworkers, researchers, potato organizations and — most importantly — growers.
“This has given me a wide lens to view how important potatoes, and agriculture, is to the world,” Nedrow said. “The more I travel around our world, the more I see that potato people have much more in common than not.”
It’s a viewpoint — and a track record — that would make his parents proud, even if their son’s career may have taken an unexpected twist. Dick and Mary Nedrow advised him to work somewhere besides the family farm for a few years, Bret said.
“In hindsight that may not have worked out the way they wanted, but the family farm continues on regardless,” he said. “My sister and her husband, Shawna and Sean Maupin, are continuing the farming tradition, making them third-generation potato growers, and their son Hayden will be the fourth.”
Nedrow’s parents remain his biggest influences, along with Joe Guenthner, his graduate advisor. And nurturing the connections that began in his childhood have been a key to his success.
“The potato world is a small industry. Networking among fellow passionate potato people broadens and strengthens your skill set,” Nedrow said. “Take the opportunities to get outside your own area and meet new people and be involved in organizations to help steer the industry.”
DEREK PETERSON
Vice president of sales and operations, Wilcox Fresh
Hometown: Ovid, Idaho
In some ways, Derek Peterson has been training for his current role his entire life. Growing up in Bear Lake Valley in southeast Idaho, Peterson helped out at the family grocery store in Montpelier, stocking shelves and bagging groceries throughout his teenage years.
“Both of my grandparents operated small beef and dairy operations as well, so I had a lot of exposure to ag and the food business,” Peterson said. “In college, I pursued a degree in agribusiness and knew that I wanted to work somewhere between ag and food distribution.”
Peterson made another fortuitous decision at Utah State University, where he met and married his wife Andrea, who came from a family potato farm in Rexburg, Idaho. After graduation, Peterson took a job working with his wife’s father, selling potatoes at Wilcox Fresh, in 2006.
He’s been with the varietal potato grower and wholesaler ever since.
“The best thing about my job is getting to meet, work and build relationships with people from all over the country and the world,” Peterson said. “The potato industry is full of genuine, honest and hard- working people.”
He builds industry connections through his work with local, state and national organizations. Peterson has served on the board of the Idaho Grower Shipper Association since 2014 and chaired the Idaho Potato Commission marketing committee in 2013.
“My biggest influence has been working with my father-in-law, Lynn Wilcox,” Peterson said. “He has mentored me and provided me with opportunities to learn and grow both in the potato and produce industry. I lost my father when I was 20, so Lynn has had the most impact on my adult and professional life.”
Throughout his potato-focused path, Peterson has tried to put into practice the best advice he’s received.
“Surround yourself with people smarter than yourself,” he said. “You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room — just smart enough to recognize people’s strengths and help others grow and develop.”
ALISON SKLARCZYK
CFO, Sklarczyk Seed Farm
Hometown: Johannesburg, Michigan
Unlike many of her contemporaries, Alison Sklarczyk had no intention of going into the family potato business.
Sklarczyk graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in animal sciences. She married her husband, Ben, a third-generation potato grower, in 2005 and worked briefly at his family’s seed farm before finding a job as a veterinary assistant.
“After three years at the local veterinary clinic, I felt a very strong pull to work alongside Ben. I’ve been here for 16 years now,” Sklarczyk said.
She has worn many hats during that time. She’s been Sklarczyk Seed Farm’s tissue culture lab manager and overseen human resources while serving as a National Potato Council delegate, on the Potatoes USA communications committee and on the board of the regional Farm Service Agency.
In 2019, Sklarczyk was named the Michigan Department of Agricultural and Rural Development Ag Exporter of the Year as well as Spudman magazine’s Spudwoman of the Year. Sklarczyk said she shared the award with her late mother-in-law, Mary Kay Sklarczyk, who started the farm’s tissue lab and managed it until dying of cancer at age 56 in 2011.
“Not a day goes by that we don’t think about her and the way she positively impacted the potato industry,” Alison Sklarczyk said.
Sklarczyk’s career was also influenced by her maternal grandparents, who were hard-working farmers, and her paternal grandfather, a teacher and world travel.
“They modeled the best of two very different lifestyles to shape me into who I am today,” she said.
It’s advice from another family member, though, that rings in Sklarczyk’s head when she needs motivation.
“If I’ve had a long, hard day, I can hear the wise words of my older sister, Sara, telling me to go wash my face and go to bed,” Sklarczyk said. “Tomorrow is a fresh start.”
KATHLEEN TRIOU
President/CEO, Fresh Solutions Network
Hometown: Strongsville, Ohio
A quest to provide consumers with nutritional options led Kathleen Triou to the potato industry. A mission to expand those options has kept her there.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the ways food impacts our lives, from family meals to convenient, healthy options,” Triou said. “Potatoes are a versatile, nutritious staple with so much untapped potential.”
Triou joined Fresh Solutions Network, the exclusive supplier of Side Delights potato products, in 2014. The network’s seven members, from Florida to Washington, own the land they grow on, tend the crops and pack the product. Potato and onion buyers choose a preferred point of contact to coordinate sourcing and supplying custom shipments.
Expanding the network’s portfolio through options such as the Side Delights brand, which focuses on consumer preferences for potatoes as a side dish, and the newly launched microwaveable Amazables! product is a driving factor motivating Triou.
“It’s rewarding to see these innovations resonate with people who are looking for fresh, convenient options,” she said. “Helping to drive positive change in agriculture and contribute to sustainable growth has been both humbling and inspiring.”
Triou, who holds a master’s in business administration from Midwestern State University and the rank of captain in the U.S. Air Force, advises industry professionals to use all available tools to understand consumer behavior.
“Use quality data and consumer insights to drive innovation and meet needs in a way that makes your product stand out,” she said. “Also, don’t be afraid to explore new technologies. Whether it’s packaging, convenience or sustainability solutions, investing in innovation can have a huge impact in even the most traditional categories.”
That focus on continuous innovation and improvement is part of Triou’s business philosophy: Never stop learning and stay curious.
“In an industry that’s constantly evolving, especially with consumer preferences shifting rapidly, it’s essential to keep asking questions and challenging assumptions,” she said. “This advice has kept me grounded and open to new ideas. It reminds me that every challenge is an opportunity to grow and that success often comes from embracing change rather than resisting it.”
Emerging Leader
COLIN SZAWLOWSKI
Owner/vice president of sales and management, Valley Spud/Barnwood Valley Farms
Hometown: Hadley, Massachusetts
Colin Szawlowski has accomplished a lot in his burgeoning potato industry career, but the highlight came just a few months ago.
Last November, Szawlowski, a fifth- generation farmer, was selected by the Potato Leadership, Education, and Advancement Foundation (Potato LEAF) as its 2025 Grower Leader after completing the 2024 Leadership Institute.
The foundation is the long-term funding source supporting leadership development and educational programs for the U.S. potato industry. Leadership program participants learn about local and national potato challenges and issues beyond the production sector and take tours of local agricultural businesses.
Each year, a Grower Leader from the previous class is selected to help guide incoming program participants.
“Everyone in the industry should go through this program, but getting picked (as) Grower Leader from that program, I would say, is truly my proudest moment in my career so far,” Szawlowski said.
There was never much doubt about the path Szawlowski’s career would take.
“My family has always owned a potato farm, so growing up in the industry sparked something which I realized would be my future career,” he said.
Working with his biggest influences, including his grandfather, father and two uncles, cemented that choice.
“My grandfather and my uncle have had a massive impact on who I am today,” Szawlowski said. “They were very similar. They really didn’t talk a lot, but when they did, you sure listened. I really don’t think I would be succeeding in the industry if it wasn’t for them.”
