The International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) has announced that Joel G. Newman, president and CEO of the American Feed Industry Assn. (AFIA), has been elected IFIF’s new chairman for 2016-2017.

Outgoing Chairman Mario Sergio Cutait, who has led the Federation for the last four years, formally handed over the Chairmanship at the General Assembly in Rome and welcomed Newman’s election: “IFIF is at a critical phase of implementing its new strategy in the face of important global challenges and opportunities in the food and feed chain and Joel Newman is well placed to lead the Federation to contribute to the growth of a sustainable feed industry worldwide.”

Newman, who previously served as Chair of IFIF’s Policy Committee and as a Member of the IFIF Board of Directors, has more than three decades of diverse executive experience in agribusiness and will bring his longstanding experience both with IFIF as well as international feed industry matters to the role of IFIF Chairman.

Newman on accepting his two-year term as Chairman highlighted that “through our efforts and partnerships we have positively impacted the environmental footprint, the international regulatory framework, the efficiency and the image of our industry. As we work together we will continue to champion science-based decisions, the need for continued innovation and better technologies, as well as regulatory convergence and free and fair trade.”

Delegates to the IFIF 28th Annual General Assembly also elected the following organizations and representatives to the IFIF Board of Directors for the 2016 – 2017 term:

• Ajinomoto Eurolysine SAS - Dr. Daniel Bercovici, President

• Alltech Inc. - Aidan Connolly, Chief Innovation Officer & VP Corporate Accounts

• American Feed Industry Association – Joel G. Newman, President and CEO

• Animal Feed Manufacturers Association, South Africa - De Wet Boshoff, Executive Director

• Animal Nutrition Association of Canada - Graham Cooper, Executive Director

• BASF SE - Dr. Christopher Rieker, VP Global Segment Management Animal Nutrition

• Brazilian Feed Industry Association Sindirações - Roberto Betancourt, President

• Cargill - David Webster, President Premix & Nutrition

• China Feed Industry Association - Li Xirong, Secretary General

• DSM - Enzo Trimigliozzi, Vice President ANH Strategy

• Elanco Animal Health - Dr. Olivier Espeisse, EU Africa Government Affairs Director

• EU Association of Specialty Feed Ingredients and their Mixtures - Joerg Seifert, Secretary General

• European Feed Manufacturers' Federation - Ruud Tijssens, President,

• Evonik - Dr. Michael Binder, Director Sustainability Development

• Feedlatina - Dr. Julio Flavio Neves, President,

• M.Cassab - Mario Sergio Cutait, Director

• Novus - Luis Azevedo, Executive Director, LATAM & Africa

• Nutreco - Dr. Reinder Sijtsma, Quality Director,

• Stock Feed Manufacturers' Council of Australia - David Bray, President

IFIF is made up of national and regional feed associations, feed related organizations, and corporate members from around the globe, representing over 80% of the feed production worldwide. IFIF provides provide a unified voice and leadership to represent and promote the global feed industry as an essential participant in the food chain that provides sustainable, safe, nutritious and affordable food for a growing world population.