Troma's Lloyd Kaufman was elected chairman of the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) at the annual members meeting yesterday. He begins his two-year term immediately.

The global independent film organization has also elected new executive committee members to two-year terms: former IFTA chairman Michael Ryan (Handmade Films International) is named vice chairman and Paul Hertzberg (CineTel Films) is vice chairman/secretary.

Executive committee members remaining in their current roles include Ehud Bleiberg (Bleiberg Entertainment) as chairman of the export alliance, Mark Damon (Foresight Unlimited) as general vice chairman, and Lewis Horwitz (Horwitz Entertainment Financial Services) as vice chairman/finance. The vacancy of vice chairman/non-Californian, formerly held by Kaufman, will be determined by a special election in the next few weeks,

The IFTA board of directors consists of 20 members serving two-year terms. Newly elected members are Elisabeth Costa de Beauregard (Lakeshore), Stephanie Denton (Lionsgate), Nicole Mackey (Fortissimo), Almira Malyshev (Screen Media Ventures), Charlotte Mickie (Maximum Films International), Barbara Mudge (Worldwide Film Entertainment) and Nestor Nieves (New Line International).

Current board members re-elected to two-year terms are: Brad Kembel (Summit), Albert Lee (Emperor) and Andrew Stevens (Focal Point).

They join existing board members Glen Basner (The Weinstein Company), Roger Corman (New Horizons), Pierre David (Imagination), Peter Elson (Global), Antony Ginnane (IFM World Releasing), Richard Guardian (Mainline), Tony Kandah (Hollywood Wizard), Avi Lerner (Nu Image), Mark Lindsay (Kimmel) and Alison Thompson (Focus Features).

Dan March (Echo Bridge), Steven Paul (Crystal Sky) and David Shoshan (Imageworks) will serve as alternates to the IFTA board.

'I am honored to have been elected to Chairman of IFTA,' said Lloyd Kaufman in a statement. 'The independent community today faces rampant media consolidation and challenges to copyrights in the digital universe, and I will work closely with the IFTA Board of Directors, member companies and IFTA's executives to give our fellow independents more control and opportunities in both the U.S. and abroad. New technology will continue to be our new frontier.'

Most recently, Kaufman was general vice chairman for IFTA and created and chairs its New Technologies Opportunities Committee. He has also served on the Board of Trinity School and ECO, the environmental foundation.