United Potato Growers of Idaho (UPGI) makes a very big change. United Potato Growers of Idaho (UPGI)  recently announced the resignation of Jerry Wright, CEO and President, effective immediately, to pursue other opportunities. Interim operations will be handled by the UPGI Chief Operating Officer Rick Shawver.   No additional staffing changes will be made at this time. In an official statement, the UPGI Board Chairman Carl Taylor said the following:  “United Potato Growers of Idaho appreciates Mr. Wright’s efforts on behalf of the organization and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.” Mr. Wright was named CEO and President of UPGI in 2005. Prior to joining UPGI, Wright most recently worked at the Idaho National Laboratory and NorSun Foods.

 I’ve visited with Gerry Wright on a number of occasions and always found him to be very helpful and forthcoming with information so I called him up and asked why he left: “We mutually agreed that based on the direction they wanted to go and I didn’t want to lead them there, because they’re really not headed in the right direction I think, bottom line is we agreed to mutually part and I’m a free agent.”

 We wish him all the luck in the world.