New TIACA to better meet its members’ needs

The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) is building on the momentum from its last Executive Summit and accelerating its transformation journey that started in 2018 with a primary objective to make the association financially sustainable and strong enough to take up the challenges requested and needed by its members in the long term. The second transformation priority is to adapt TIACA’s agenda and focus to the new challenges faced by the industry.

“Our last Executive Summit in Budapest in November 2019 received incredibly positive feedback, which encouraged us to redouble our efforts. While the Covid-19 crisis forced us to slow down on our new initiatives, it has highlighted the crucial nature of air cargo for economies and society, the need for greater and more efficient industry collaboration and the relevance of TIACA’s mission to unite the air cargo community. It has also been seen by the Board as an opportunity to speed up TIACA’s transformation journey to better support our members and the air cargo community moving forward,” explains Steven Polmans, chairman of TIACA.

“I think it is really important to talk about sustainability as a key theme for the future of TIACA. And our approach is not to address just environmental sustainability but rather address the three pillars of sustainability – planet, people profit – and strike a balance among these three pillars. Without good balance among these three elements an organisation can’t succeed. Going forward, we need to make profit but that is not the only thing that matters. For the long term future you need to be sustainable and sustainability means getting that balance,” Polmans told The STAT Trade Times in an earlier interview.

Last month, upon recommendations from a special Transformation Task Force composed of seven Board members, TIACA’s Board of Directors has unanimously voted in favour of the plan to accelerate the move to the “new TIACA”. The goal of this final stage of TIACA’s transformation is to make the Association fit for its newly redefined purpose:

• The Association has mandated the consulting firm Change Horizon to deliver its transformation program by the end of August 2020 with a revised governance structure and a fitter organisational set-up established.
• As part of the change, the role of the secretary general will evolve. TIACA needs a director general accountable for the organisation’s strategy, delivery model, team, financials. Today, this role is more limited and vaguely split between the chairman of the board and the secretary general and it leads to inefficiencies. The new TIACA needs to be more agile and responsive to the market’s needs.
• Vladimir Zubkov will continue supporting the Association, pursuing the work with ICAO and supporting Industry Affairs and Advocacy efforts.
• During the transition phase, Celine Hourcade will act as the transition director of TIACA to ensure business continuity until the future director general of TIACA is appointed.

“The new TIACA will emerge with a revised mission, strong values and clear strategic priorities, in keeping with the industry’s expectations. Our new TIACA will be fit for its new purpose, able to deliver its ambitions while maximising the value of its membership for the air cargo community,” said Polmans.