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The JFK Air Cargo Association

The JFK Air Cargo Association, Inc., was founded in 1958 and our stated goal is to educate and serve various air cargo industry components. Throughout the year we have luncheon meetings and events that educate our members, give them an opportunity to network and support philanthropic endeavors.

We also provide representation and support for our members before the federal, state and local government authorities with whom we do business.

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Membership

Our membership, Officers and Board of Directors are drawn from both the public and private sector ranks. We count as members airlines, forwarders, sales consultants, ground handlers, truckers, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and the Queens ASDO. The members of the JFK Air Cargo Association are given the chance to expand their trade and technical knowledge in the movement of air cargo. We deliver education and training on sales techniques, regulatory issues and equipment innovations that impact our members. We also lend our voice and opinion on infrastructure and planning issues that can impact the air cargo community.

Charity

The members of the JFK Air Cargo Association are focused on giving back to the community where possible. Through the years we have primarily supported three organizations, Island Harvest, Toys 4 Tots, and Lustgarten Foundation.

Toys For Tots

Click the logos to view recent Thank You letters from our charities this year!

Officers and Directors

(click on a photo to view bio)

Dayna Harap

Dayna Harap

President

Dayna has always been based at JFK for her 20-plus years of air freight trucking experience. She has always been a member of the JFK Air Cargo Association and is proud to be a board member. Dayna has been fortunate enough to work for numerous companies in many positions including both operations and sales.

Dayna Harap is the current President of the JFKACA.

James Burnett

James Burnett

First Vice President

Recently retired from Swiss World Cargo, the cargo division of Swiss International Air Lines after thirty-five years of service.

He last held the position of Regional Manager of the New York Area for fourteen years and was responsible for the sales and operation of three daily flights from JFK to Switzerland.

Prior to this position he worked in various positions as marketing assistant for the Americas, a supervisor in operations, a customer service assistant, reservation and tracing agent and warehouse agent.

Before coming to Swiss he worked for nine years at various positions in the airfreight industry with a Customs broker, trucker, and container station.

He served as a member of the board of the JFK Air Cargo Association and Treasurer for seven years. He has also served on the board of the Long Island Import Export Association for eight years.

Jim is currently the First Vice President of the JFKACA

carl shipsky

Carl Shipsky

Second Vice President

Carl’s aviation career began as a Sourcing Analyst at JetBlue Airways with a focus on negotiating ground handling and into-plane fuel contracts until 2009 when he was selected to oversee their newly created cargo division as Manager of System Sales & Marketing. In 2015 Carl joined Southwest Airlines cargo team as a national account manager with additional focus on expanding their Int’l markets. After another 3 year stint at JetBlue overseeing Airports Sourcing and 5 years at PrimeFlight Aviation as VP Sales & Service, Carl returned to the cargo sector in 2023 as Senior Sales Manager of The Americas at 7L Freight, a WebCargo company.

Carl grew up in the Bronx and now resides on Long Island in Floral Park with his wife of 27 years Odette and their children Jack (25) and Grace (23). Carl’s passion for aviation started with his Grandfather, Kenneth Galbrath who was an air traffic controller at Idlewild airport in the 50’s & 60’s.

Laura Cascino

Laura Cascino

Associate Board Member

Manager, Cargo Training and Onboarding at Delta Airlines
Jillian Silva

Jillian Daza

Secretary

Jillian Daza is the Sales Manager for New York and Connecticut at Lufthansa Cargo, AG, a logistics subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. She is responsible for leading a team of highly experienced and motivated outside and inside sales representatives that work tirelessly to sell hundreds of tons worth of capacity each week.

In 2011, Mrs. Daza earned a BA in Media Studies from Queens College.

In 2012 she was enrolled in a project at the Lufthansa Cargo Headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, that involved Strategy and Business Development. Upon completion of the project, Jillian took over the role of Regional Manager of Handling and Process, where she was responsible for the efficient flow of handling and sales processes in the Northeast Region.

Jillian is the current Secretary of the JFKACA.

Michael Bednarz

Michael Bednarz

Acting Past President

Mike Bednarz is the Manager of Air Cargo Business Development for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and is directly responsible for developing and advancing the organization’s strategic air cargo business agenda.  Mike’s responsibilities cover John F. Kennedy International, Stewart International, and LaGuardia Airports in New York, and Newark Liberty International and Atlantic City International Airports in New Jersey.

Mike has an extensive logistics background.  Prior to joining the Port Authority, Mike’s most recent appointments included Director at the U.S. cargo subsidiary of IATA (CNS), and Regional Cargo Manager for Cathay Pacific Airways.  Mike also serves on the board of the Newark International Airport Air Cargo Council, and currently chairs the National Research Council Transportation Research Board’s ACRP Cargo Facility Planning and Development Guidelines Initiative.  Mike has also served as Chair of the Airports Council International – North America Air Cargo Committee.  Mike holds an MBA in Global Management, which he completed in 2005, and a BA in both Business Economics and European History.

Joe Cipolla

Joe Cipolla

Honorary Board Member

Based at our JFK office, Joe joined Crane Worldwide Logistics in May of 2018 as Sr. Director Global Air Product.  Has been industry now 41 years.  Last position was at Toll Global forwarding as Vice President of Air Product for the Americas.

Previous positions:

Alitalia Cargo starting as Cargo Agent to Regional Sales Manager.

BAX Global as the Gateway Operations Manager.

Expeditors International as the Director of Gateways Americas

Toll Global Forwarding

At Crane Worldwide Logistics LLC Joe is responsible for all aspects of the air product carrier negotiations/allotments/ block space agreements and setting up export gateways first in the US then globally.

 

 Outside activities

One of the Founders of the Dan Ferrante Golf outing, now in its 15th year supporting charities such as Saint Jude’s/Sisters of Notre Dame/Cancer care and also help people and their families within our industry stricken with Cancer by assisting to help defray some medical costs.

Active 40 years Volunteers Firefighter in my home town. Highest rank attained of Chief of department for 8 years. Currently Fire Commissioner.  Was also one of the 1st volunteers departments called to assist in the recovery following the 911 attack on the world trade center and spent 7 days assisting the FDNY.

Hobbies: Soccer/Golf/Grandsons! Married 39 years to Carmela and we have two children.  Joseph Jr. is the District Director for JFK/PHL also at CWW and is married to Melissa  Joanna is a speech pathologist married to Lucio with two handsome boys. My grandsons Luciano, 3 and Rocco, 1 and another on the way.

Michael Piza

Michael Piza

Honorary Board Member

Michael Piza is currently Senior Vice President of Corporate Sales and Marketing at Apex Logistics International.  He also has responsibility over Apex Logistics Customs Brokerage product in the USA.

Apex Logistics is a full service logistics provider that is widely considered to be one of the strongest global airfreight providers on the market today.  Michael opened Apex’s New York office in February of 2011 followed by their Seattle office and USA Customs Brokerage division March of 2013.

Mike has 18 years of experience in global supply chain management.  He is a Licensed Customs Broker.  His areas of expertise are account management, business development, air cargo solutions, trade and customs brokerage compliance, and marketing.

Before joining Apex in January 2011, Michael spent 10 years with Barthco a division of OHL.  OHL has since been acquired by Geodis.

Michael is a graduate of Denison University in Granville, OH class of 2002 where is received a BA Degree.

Richard Hernandez

Richard Hernandez

Board Member

Rich Hernandez began his airfreight career in 1981 selling the services of Profit By Air while in Puerto Rico. In 1986 he returned back to NY where he had sales & management positions with DHL as well as TNT. In December of 2019, Rich resigned his Regional Sales Manager position at Amerijet after almost 25 years to start with Hermes Aviation, LLC  on January 6th, 2020 where he leads a GSA Team that services airlines, such as, South African Airways,El Al Airlines, Icelandic Air and ASL.

Rich has been married to his wife, Julie for 42 years and they reside in Northport, NY. They are the proud parents of 2 grown kids, Jason and Nicole and the proud grandparents of 5 grandchildren ranging in ages from 6-22 years of age.

Seth Keffas

Seth Keffas

Board Member

Seth began his career with Southwest Airlines in 1998 at Islip Airport. He worked as a ramp agent, ops agent, ramp supervisor, station trainer supervisor, cargo supervisor and a regional cargo sales manager. In 2010 he relocated to Nashville to take a position as Regional Cargo Sales Manager where he won awards as Cargo Sales Manager of the Year in 2016 and 2017. Now back in New York, Seth is married with two children. Because nobody finds this business by accident, Seth’s gateway was that his father worked for AEI at JFK for more than thirty years. He’s a huge sports fan and is a fan of the Rangers, Yankees and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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Phillip J. Jensen

Board Member

Phil Jensen is the Vice President of Business Development and Industry Relations for Worldwide Flight Services (WFS). Phil has a BS Degree in Business Management and more than 30 years of aviation management experience. He has served in the capacities of President at the Kennedy Airport Airline Management Council (KAAMCO) and the JFK Chamber of Commerce and serves on The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) Airlines Services Council.
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Peter DeBenigno

Board Member

  • Member of the JFK Air Cargo Assn since 1980.
  • Present: Sales Rep Mobile Air Transport JFK,
  • Team Leader KAAMCO JFK Cargo Management Committee since 1999.
  • Member & past President of The Semantics JFK
  • Member LI Import Export Association & NY Foreign Commerce Club
  • Univ. of Bridgeport, Bpt Ct BS Economics
  • Past:  Eastern Airlines/Area Cargo Sales Mgr. JFK
  • Pace Motor Lines, Sales Mgr. JFK
Dorothy Dilan

Dorothy Dilan

Forward Air

Dorothy Dilan been with Forward Air, Inc. for 10 years and currently holds the position as the Regional Sales Manager based in the JFK area.  She is responsible for developing and maintaining partnerships with International and Domestic Forwarders and Airlines.  Forward is a leading ground transportation provider to the North American air freight and expedited LTL market and includes Expedited LTL, LTL, Full Truckload, Intermodal, Final Mile, and Brokerage services.

She migrated to the USA after completing a degree in Marketing and meeting her future husband.  She is happily married and in her free time finds pleasure in raising her twin boys.

Drew McMullen

Drew McMullen

Loadsure

Drew McMullen is the Head of Global Partnerships at Loadsure, where he is directly responsible for developing and managing strategic alliances within freight protection and the supply chain around the world.
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Drew has an extensive background in transportation and logistics. Prior to joining Loadsure, Drew led the transportation & logistics industry vertical for Johnson Controls, delivered airport and airline technology solutions for SITA, helped drive global business development for the air transportation industry at Brock Solutions, and was the Managing Director for airport data systems company, Art of Context. Drew was also an Operations Agent for Southwest Airlines and is a 22-year veteran of the U.S. Military. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts in Boston and is currently completing his MBA at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Elky Moya

Elky Moya

Board Member

Elky is a seasoned Cargo Sales professional with over a decade of industry experience.
She joined Amerijet in JFK in 2012 as a Station Agent in Operations before eventually moving to the Sales organization as an Inside Sales Representative. Finding a passion for Sales, Elky was further promoted to Account Executive in 2017 where she has worked closely with her colleagues to grow Amerijet’s presence across the New York metro area and beyond. In January of 2022 was promoted to Sales Manager for the Northeast region.
Prior to Amerijet, Elky worked for Amerijet’s partner CaribeTrans in Santiago, Dominican Republic, where she gained strong operational experience and knowledge about the Caribbean market. When she is not closing new business for Amerijet, Elky is spending quality time with her husband Ivan and their 2-year-old daughter.
Joseph Badamo

Joseph Badamo

In Memoriam

Education:

  • Silk Way Airlines, Vice President Sales, the Americas, 2007-present
  • Evergreen Intl Airlines, Vice President Sales, 2002-2006
  • KLM Cargo, Director of Sales and Operations, 1980-2001

Education:

  • B.S. St. John’s University, Jamaica, NY, 1977
  • Coursework MBA, C.W.Post, Westbury, NY 1978

Personal:

  • Married to his wife Cathy for more than 35 years
  • 3 children / 3 grandchildren
  • Resides on Long Island, NY