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Delta Cargo Women In Charge

We sat down with three women executives to catch up on the Delta flight plan as part of FlyingTypers’ exclusive and recurring Women in Air Cargo series.

     Director Revenue Management & Alliances Xianqin (Lisa) Wallace commands a staff of 40 people and reports directly to Vice President Cargo Commercial Ray Curtis. She joined Delta in October 2013 from UPS, where she was Marketing Director at UPS Capital, Asia region.
     “I see positive change and an alignment with the passenger side and airport customer service toward a greater Delta brand. It strengthens our customer relationships and enhances the Delta service reliability. I see opportunities to grow together in this global business.”
     Commenting on her previous experience, Lisa mentioned that there are gaps technology-wise, something that is not unique to Delta.
     “It’s an opportunity to create new system functionality. Ultimately, everything we do is to focus on satisfying customer expectations and striving to provide a compelling reason for the customer to use Delta cargo.”
     With 25 years of industry experience, Lisa is driving internal efficiencies in the face of changing market dynamics and keeping at the forefront of what the challenges are for the customers. Exercising her responsibilities regarding alliances is again viewed through the lens of the customer perspective in order to enable them to gain market access and “to provide reliable capacity and service consistency.
     “The feedback from customers indicates they value our alliances and the cooperation it fosters.”
     In terms of moving forward, additional steps are being taken to promote and offer collocation and IT integration. Coming on the heels of the Delta Air Line corporate leadership conference, Lisa is enthusiastic about its tenets—treating people with respect and dignity. “We have the best employees and the best team—I am proud to be part of the Delta family.”
    
     Sharon Poindexter is Director Strategic Innovation & Technology, a very recent change of department title from eCommerce. Sharon is a newcomer to the airline and cargo industry, with an extensive track record of managing and implementing B2B and B2C e-commerce business models. “I love the airlines, Delta, and cargo!”
     She is determined to “use technology to improve the customer’s ability to do business with Delta.” Recognizing that the utilization of technology in the air cargo business is lagging, Sharon is working on ways to better leverage and build technology into the business.
     Her focus is on identifying what Delta can do to make it easier to do business, shorten the timeframe of interaction and the effort required, and—it goes without saying—use far less paper.
     In this context, Sharon says, “We need to look at what’s available and repurpose what we already have.” Asked about the impressions she has from the freight forwarders’ commitment to technology, she cites the example of K+N, which has rolled out an online booking tool for its shippers/customers.
     “This shows that the forwarders understand and make use of technology; we need to follow a multi-channel approach for various size forwarders. The challenge is how to make new technology affordable to all the players, because the cost of technology is an issue.”
     The IT team is based in Atlanta as well as in Minneapolis, with Unisys as its IT partner. “It’s a relationship, and we all need to express and support our vision and work toward a common goal.”
     In terms of e-AWB, Sharon indicates that Delta’s target is 70 percent for domestic shipments and 40 percent for international cargo. “Currently we stand at 72 percent for domestic and 30 percent for international, and we will hit our goal by the end of this year.
     “It’s not just the technology. The processes are key. Our challenges are to align the priorities. We push to do everything better, and do more for the customers.”

     The buck literally stops with Director Cargo Finance Linda Biere.
     In a wave of relatively new women in cargo, Linda has been working for Delta Air Lines for nine years, having joined cargo one year ago. Working with a team of 30 people, Linda handles budgeting, forecasting, finance, revenue reporting and market analysis. Her IT arsenal includes SAP, used by Delta corporate finance, and Cognos, a business intelligence and financial performance application.
     “It’s a powerful reporting engine that helps us achieve competitive advantage and optimize revenue. We analyze daily production and performance.”
     This approach enables the finance team to start with the bigger picture, look for developing trends, and then compile and analyze more granular data.
     Linda especially values the synergy on the operations side, and the leveraging of best practices on the cargo side. On a high note from the previous days’ leadership conference, Linda observed that “people are invigorated and enthusiastic,” having responded very well to the motivational nature of the event.

     Ray Curtis presides over this successful and highly motivated team, with Delta recently rated #1 airline in the U.S. in on-time performance.
     “We are in the business of time, while also remaining lean, efficient and green [environmentally speaking].” Cargo had a strong July with a bumper crop of cherries, carrying more than one million kilos to Japan, China, South Korea, and Europe.
     “The Asia market is more stable. We are achieving and surpassing our targets for cost—the fuel from our own refinery is helping—and there will be additional operating capacity forthcoming to move oil for Delta.”
     Recent organizational changes are also bearing fruit. “We have a much closer working relationship among organizations, clearly evident even within this short 60 day period [since it was announced].”
      The just concluded corporate leadership conference included a cargo leadership meeting and the opportunity to meet the executives for the first time—Steve Sear, (pictured right) senior vice president Global Sales, and Bill Lentsch, senior vice president Airport Customer Service. A surprise star guest at the conference was Sir Richard Branson (whose Virgin Atlantic airline is a Joint Venture partner) who addressed the subject of brand.
     “It’s all about executing on our goals and the Delta brand,” remarks Ray. Delta now handles Virgin cargo along the entire eastern seaboard. “We’re moving west, bringing real value to our customers and introducing a new brand to the market.”
     Delta will begin operating one of two daily Heathrow-Los Angeles flights currently operated by Virgin Atlantic, a new Delta service and its first nonstop flight between Los Angeles and London Heathrow, while Virgin Atlantic will begin operating one of Delta's three daily flights between Heathrow and Atlanta.
     “We will be attending the ACF 2014 in Seoul, which is an opportunity to also meet our partners China Southern and China Eastern. We now have Eric Wilson (pictured left) as Director Cargo Sales for Asia, based in Tokyo since January; he was previously General Manager Strategic Partner Programs in Atlanta and has connectivity into the environment. He is well positioned to promote the Delta culture.
     “My message has been: let’s use less paper, rather than paperless.” It seems the initial all-encompassing, complex, and over-ambitious IATA e-freight initiative—covering 20 documents—stands a better and more realistic chance of being implemented when limited to a half-dozen airline specific documents.
     Delta will conduct its annual partnership forum in September, to be held in Los Angeles and Seattle.
     “It will be an opportunity to present a different offering on the West Coast than what was previously the case, based on customer feedback and focus.”
     “We are nearing the planning season and we are looking to get input and guidance for demand based on what the forwarders are getting from their shippers.”
Ted Braun/Flossie

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Carmen Taylor