Aug 2, 2024WPC honors 5 for organizational leadership
Five potato industry leaders received recognition for their achievements at the 12th World Potato Congress in Adelaide, Australia, June 23-26.
The WPC board and president Peter VanderZaag led more than 800 delegates in celebrating the honorees.
The honorees:
Nigel Crump, WPC director and board secretary, received the Ross Trimboli Award for Industry Leadership & Advocacy, named in honor of South Australian industry leader Ross Trimboli.
Crump, a potato pathologist with more than 20 years’ experience in the Australian potato industry, is the general manager of the Australian Seed Potato Industry Certification Authority, which operates the seed potato certification program in South Australia, Victoria and northern New South Wales. He is also interim chair of Potatoes Australia Inc., the host of the Congress.
John Griffin, president of Prince Edward Island (PEI) grower, packer and shipper W.P. Griffin Inc., has been a supporter of the industry in Canada and globally through his involvement with the WPC. Griffin has been a member of the WPC for 16 years, serving as a board member and then president and CEO. He retired in January 2023.
Brian Douglas and Jocelyne Douglas led the WPC from 2017-2022, with Brian serving as general manager and Jocelyne as office administrator.
Brian’s roles with the PEI Department of Agriculture have included director of the Agriculture Resource Division and manager of Farm Extension Services. He has served on provincial and national boards and committees and as a WPC director.
Jocelyne and Brian helped organize World Potato Congresses in Peru and in Dublin.
Xiaoping Lu retired last July from his role as an international advisor for the WPC. In 2011, he became the founding director of the International Potato Center’s China Center for Asia and the Pacific. Lu spent 30 years working in international agricultural policy.
