Cargo iQ has appointed Henrik Ambak, senior vice president of cargo operations worldwide at Emirates SkyCargo, as its new vice chairman, and added two board members.

Ambak has over three decades of experience in air cargo, having started his career in freight forwarding and moving to ground handling before joining Cargolux to oversee all aspects of cargo and ground operations. He joined Emirates in 2014.

“The Cargo iQ journey of close industry collaboration has rendered air cargo as the only mode of transport with a standard cross-industry quality management and measurement approach – quite a feat,” he said.

 for the first time welcomed Board members from Qatar Airways Cargo and Swissport, and announced Henrik Ambak, Senior Vice President, Cargo Operations Worldwide, Emirates SkyCargo as its new Vice Chairman.

Nadeem Sultan, vice president of global cargo operations at Qatar Airways Cargo, and Hendrik Leyssens, head of global cargo operations at Swissport, will be their companies’ first representatives on the Cargo iQ board.

Sultan has over 18 years of experience in air transport, including roles in cargo network operations, cargo sales and marketing, safety and security compliance, and freighter operations. He joined Qatar Airways Cargo in 2014 after working with Atlas Air.

“I am honoured to have been elected as Cargo iQ’s board member and I thank IATA and the Cargo iQ members for giving me this opportunity,” he said Sultan. “At a time when the industry faces innumerable challenges, collaboration by all parties in the logistics chain is paramount. Like Cargo iQ, Qatar Airways Cargo believes in excellence and along with my fellow board members, we look forward to further paving a successful path of process control, quality monitoring and services improvements for air cargo.”

Leyssens joined Swissport in 2012 to develop and implement quality standards and KPIs at Swissport Cargo Services.

“Swissport was one of the first members to join Cargo iQ and our commitment to quality delivery in our cargo operations is well recognized,” he said. “Our appointment is a sign of Swissport’s good standing in the cargo community. This shall encourage us to continue delivering best-in-class services.”

Both Emirates SkyCargo and Qatar Airways Cargo were recently awarded Cargo iQ Certification through Cargo iQ’s new Audit Scheme administered by independent auditors SGS. Swissport will be audited under the new scheme in the following months.

Also joining the board are Rutger Jan Pegels, director of performance management at KLM Cargo, and Markus Muecke, global head of air freight procurement and product management at Panalpina, who will continue to hold the seats for their companies.

Max Sauberschwarz, vice president and global head of carrier and gateway air logistics at Kuehne + Nagel, Jens Appel, vice president of performance management at Lufthansa Cargo, and Ambak have all been re-elected to continue to represent their companies.

The Cargo iQ board consists of 13 seats that are elected by members for two years. There were seven seats up for election this year, according to the IATA group.