Steve Smith, founder of the humanitarian logistics organization Airlink, has been named to lead the Airforwarders Association, the US trade body representing air freight forwarders and the air cargo supply chain.

The appointment puts a seasoned operator with a track record in crisis-driven air logistics at the top of an association whose members sit squarely in the middle of the forwarding chain — the freight forwarders, expedited carriers and warehouse operators that move time-critical freight for shippers across US trade lanes.

Smith built Airlink into a recognized conduit between airlines, forwarders and humanitarian relief efforts, matching airlift capacity with NGOs responding to disasters. That background — coordinating capacity under pressure, often on short notice and into constrained markets — maps closely onto the commercial realities his new members face as they manage tight tender windows, volatile belly capacity and rate swings on major corridors.

For forwarders, leadership change at the association level matters in practical ways. The Airforwarders Association lobbies on customs, security and air cargo policy in Washington, files comments on regulatory proposals affecting air freight handling, and runs industry programs on training and compliance that shape day-to-day operations for its members.

The move comes as the air freight sector continues to digest the capacity and demand distortions of recent years, with belly capacity recovery, e-commerce-driven volumes out of Asia and shifting security requirements for air cargo all pressing on forwarders' margins and operating models.

Industry observers will watch how Smith's humanitarian-network experience translates into association strategy — particularly whether he pushes deeper airline-forwarder coordination on capacity and crisis response, a model he knows well from Airlink's operations.

His immediate agenda is expected to center on the association's core advocacy work on air cargo regulation and security policy as members head into another year of uneven capacity and shifting trade patterns.