Air cargo quality standards organization Cargo iQ has named a new Chair and Vice Chair of its Board following its recent AGM.

Former Vice Chair Kerstin Strauss, Vice President, Global Air Logistics Operations, Kuehne + Nagel, has been appointed as the new Chair of the Board, with the new Vice Chair named as Rutger-Jan (RJ) Pegels, Director Performance Management & Analytics, KLM Cargo.

Strauss succeeds Henrik Ambak, Senior Vice President, Cargo Operations Worldwide, Emirates, who stepped down as Chair of the Board in May after four years in the role.

Kerstin Strauss

“Having served four years as Vice Chair, Kerstin was the natural successor as Chair of the Board and RJ has been a prominent figure on the board for some time, and both have contributed significantly to our progress as a group,” said Lothar Moehle, Executive Director, Cargo iQ.

“Their combined knowledge and experience will serve Cargo iQ extremely well as we double down on our ongoing efforts to develop industry-wide standards.”

Since starting at Kuehne + Nagel as an apprentice in 1994, Strauss has risen through the ranks, working across various roles in air freight operations and management before taking up her current role in air logistics in 2017.

“Cargo iQ, since its inception, has created industry standards around quality management, shipment visibility and transparency with the Master Operating plan at its core; these standards have meanwhile been adopted by large parts of the industry, even by non-Cargo iQ members,” said Strauss.

“The Cargo iQ membership must hold itself and each other accountable to deliver on the agreed standards in a consistent and complete manner.

“From the board, we will therefore put forward a new tiered and structured approach to our members around continuous improvement to strengthen and meet our service delivery promise to the end-customer.

“This will enable us to evidence our quality approach and get the basics right, while continuing to work on the development of new projects and standards.”

Pegels has worked for KLM Cargo for 25 years across a variety of roles, including Operations Development and Procurement.

“We envision a new approach around continuous improvement with the tiered approach for our members to grow, improve transparency, and give more substance to our Quality Rally setup,” said Pegels.

“With a more structured matrix, we aim ensure that areas of improvement identified by one individual have the potential to benefit more members – most directly carriers, ground handlers and freight forwarders – in a more immediate way than it might do today.

“Our ambition to develop new standards and address the need for new solutions in the ever-changing and fast-paced environment we operate in will remain a clear focus for Cargo iQ.

“We will aim to increase the speed of standards creation and consequently implementation amongst the membership by working on fewer projects in parallel but bringing them to life faster.”

Cargo iQ recently announced a partnership with fellow industry organizations FIATA and ASA, who have joined as board observers to help drive collective high standards among the forwarder, handler, and airline communities.