UK trade organisation the British International Freight Association (BIFA) has appointed Steve Murray as regional representative for a newly created (British) Central Region.
The move is designed to strengthen regional engagement and better support the trade association’s corporate members across the Midlands of England.
The boundary of the new Central Region encompasses members based in the home counties north of London, up to Nottingham in the north, Birmingham in the west and Peterborough in the east.
BIFA said that Murray brings to the role “extensive industry experience”, having held senior leadership roles managing multi-country and multi-functional teams across the logistics and supply chain sector.
Most recently, he worked at FedEx Logistics, the freight forwarding division of FedEx. Prior to this, he held a number of senior positions within International Supply Chain (ISC), a division of DHL, and earlier in his career worked at EXEL.
BIFA director general Steve Parker declared: “We have made clear our strategy to further raise BIFA’s profile with our members, as well as enhance engagement with them.
“With multimodal expertise spanning the full supply chain process, Steve offers a deep understanding of the industry that will be of significant benefit to members across the new Central Region and a valuable asset to the association.”
The appointment completes the trade association’s team of six regional representatives who support and engage with BIFA members across the UK and who are the trade association’s ‘eyes and ears’ at a local level in each of its six regions.
Looking to a high-tech future
In other news, last month (February), BIFA confirmed that it had formed a new artificial intelligence (AI) and technology working group in response to growing interest from the trade association’s members in the opportunities and challenges presented by AI.
The trade association said the new working group will examine AI specifically from a freight forwarder’s perspective and said that the new working group’s remit includes identifying potential efficiency gains, assessing operational and compliance impacts, and exploring emerging risks – including cybersecurity, fraud, and data governance concerns.
