Telephone provider Windstream, whose territory includes Lexington, announced Wednesday that its board has elected city resident Dennis Foster as its chairman.

Foster is a principal of Foster Thoroughbred Investments here, and he formerly was vice chairman of the board of directors of Alltel Corp., which spun off Windstream.

Foster has been lead director of Windstream since July 2006 when the company was spun off from Alltel. He is chairman of the board's governance committee and is a member of its compensation committee.

Foster succeeds Francis X. "Skip" Frantz, who is stepping down from the position because he's not considered to be an independent director under the listing standards of Nasdaq, to which Windstream has moved from the New York Stock Exchange. That comes because Frantz, who was an executive with Alltel, received certain compensation in the transition between the two companies. He will continue to be a board member.