Spudman May/June 2023 - 17

By Melinda Waldrop
MANAGING EDITOR
Jeanne Debons
T
hroughout her career, Jeanne
Debons has mastered the art of
working with people.
Debons, the 2023 Spudwoman of
the Year, has held varied jobs directly
and indirectly connected to the potato
industry in the past four decades. Most
notably, she served as executive director
of the Potato Variety Management
Institute from 2006 until her February
retirement, helping build that
organization into a key informational
and financial resource for growers and
research universities.
All her roles, which also include
more than 10 years working in plant
pathology as well as teaching botanical
drawing out of her Bend, Oregon
studio, have one thing in common, say
colleagues and friends: her ability to
rally others around a common cause
and inspire meaningful contributions.
" To me, Jeanne is kind of a modernday
polymath, " said Fred Crowe, a
former plant pathologist who worked
with Debons in his role as director of
the Central Oregon Experiment Station
at Oregon State University (OSU) in
the early 1990s. " She can literally do
anything and do it very well. "
THE PATH TO POTATOES
After obtaining her undergraduate
and graduate degrees from the State
University of New York, Debons moved
to the West Coast and completed a
Ph.D. in botany and plant pathology
from OSU in 1986. She worked in OSU
professor Mary Powelson's lab before
joining Crowe's Extension staff as a lab
technician, albeit a " quite overqualified "
one, Crowe said.
" She didn't come with a background in
potatoes or agriculture per say. But she
came and she took to it like a duck takes
to water, " said Powelson, now retired
from OSU, where the Mary L. Powelson
Fund supports the school's botany and
plant pathology field laboratory.
Debons worked with Powelson in the
Columbia River Basin, often spending
five hours or more in 90-to-100°
heat, on research projects including
identifying and treating potato early
dying in the region.
2023 Spudwoman
of the Year
Jeanne Debons.
Photo: Provided
Professional: Retired executive director of the Potato Variety
Management Institute (2006-2023)
Resides in: Bend, Oregon
Education: Diploma: Botanical Illustration, 2005, The English
Gardening School, Chelsea Physic Garden, London
Ph.D.: Botany and Plant Pathology, 1986, Oregon State University,
Corvallis, Oregon.
M.S.: Forest Pathology, 1980, State University of New York, College
of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York.
B.S.: Forest Biology, 1979, State University of New York, College of
Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York.
Industry impact: Debons has been responsible for all aspects of
PVMI corporate management, coordinating variety management and
marketing, and maintaining the nonprofit's website. She has overseen
the collecting of royalties and annual license fees from seed growers
and remitting funds to the universities in the Tri-State program.
Personal: Debons is a published artist who teaches botanical
illustration. She is a founding member of Oregon Botanical Artists
and a member of the American Society of Botanical Art. Her art is
featured on her website, jeannedebons.com.
Spudwoman 2023 judges
A panel of judges reviewed the finalists to select this year's honoree
* Hollee Alexander, vice president, National Potato Council;
2022 Spudwoman of the Year
* Nora Olsen, professor and plant extension specialist, University of Idaho;
vice president, World Potato Congress; 2021 Spudwoman of the Year
* Alison Sklarczyk, owner and lab manager at Sklarczyk Seed Farm;
2019 Spudwoman of the Year
* Addie Waxman, potato and onion agronomy manager for western
North America, McCain Foods; 2017 Spudwoman of the Year
Spudman.com 17
http://www.jeannedebons.com http://www.Spudman.com
Spudman May/June 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spudman May/June 2023
