May/June 2022 - 8

COVER STORY
Hollee Alexander is
2022 Spudwoman of the Year
Alexander has grown Potato Expo, navigated it through pandemic
By Zeke Jennings
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
W
hen the National Potato
Council (NPC) opted to
move its headquarters to
Washington, D.C. in 2001, its first
move was to hire John Keeling as chief
executive officer. The first person
Keeling hired to fill
out the NPC staff was
Hollee Alexander.
It proved to be a
sage personnel move.
Feb.
17, 2022 marked Alexander's
20th anniversary with the council,
making her the senior member of the
five-person staff in terms of longevity.
Her role has grown and evolved over
time, first as a coordinator of meetings,
grower relations and communications
and now as the vice president of
industry relations and events.
Then, in 2007, the NPC launched
Potato Expo - a collection of education
seminars, networking events and a trade
show. It has grown to become the biggest
event of the year for the U.S. potato
industry, and it serves as a major revenue
source for the NPC, which the industry
relies on for advocacy and leadership.
Alexander, whose current title is
vice president of industry relations and
events, has been the biggest driving force
behind planning and execution for the
Expo since the start. Planning a single
Expo takes years from start to finish,
meaning Alexander is juggling multiple
Expos at any given time, in addition to all
of her other grower outreach and event
planning work. She's also heavily involved
in planning non-Potato Expo meetings
and coordinating the Potato Industry
Leadership Institute (PILI) over the years.
Since March 2020, when the
COVID-19 pandemic hit, Alexander was
8
Spudman.com
Hollee Alexander celebrated her 20th anniversary with the National Potato Council earlier
this year. She has been instrumental in growing and evolving the U.S. potato industry's
biggest event: Potato Expo. Photo: National Potato Council
key in navigating the uncertainty of the
2021 and 2022 events. The 2021 Expo
was turned into a virtual event, while
the 2022 show returned to in-person,
but with numerous logistical obstacles
due to ongoing pandemic restrictions.
For all her work with Potato Expo
and the National Potato Council over
the past two decades, Hollee Alexander
has been named the 2022 Spudwoman
of the Year, which is proudly sponsored
by Lockwood Manufacturing and UPL
OpenAg.
" Her creativity has been on display
over the entirety of the life of the Potato
Expo, but none more than the past two
years, " said NPC CEO Kam Quarles.
Britt Raybould of Raybould Brothers
Farms in Idaho served several years
on the NPC's executive committee,
including as
its
president
in
2020.
Raybould was also chair of the Potato
Expo planning committee, and a former
Spudwoman of the Year winner herself.
" I had a front-row seat to watch how
Hollee handled the challenges we faced

http://www.Spudman.com

May/June 2022

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