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AfA Special
Features
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Forward Magazine
Q
Summer 2016
Airforwarders Association
A
irCargo brings together all
actors in the air cargo supply
chain in one location to
discuss trends, challenges,
opportunities and the future of the air
cargo industry. Attendees of AirCargo
include representatives from Airlines,
airport authorities, freight forwarders and
expediting companies along with the
vendors who support them.
This year’s education sessions will address
industry changes and trends. From
driverless vehicles to drones and app based
companies to the changing landscape of
TSA regulations and compliance AirCargo
provides value to everyone who attends.
J . W . M A R R I O T T D E S E R T R I D G E , P H O E N I X , A Z J U N E 8 - 1 0
A LOOK AT THE 2 0 1 6 A I RCARGO CONF ERENC E
"Navigating The Critical Changes"
RAY THURSTON,
FORMER CEO OF UPS WORLDWIDE LOGISTICS
Mr. Ray Thurston is the former CEO
of UPS Worldwide Logistics and began
working for his father’s messenger service
at 13 years old as a bike messenger. He
worked in customer service, dispatch
and accounting as he grew older. After
graduating Utah State University, Ray began
working in sales. His father died a year later
and he began running the company at 23
years of age. The company’s profits grew
tenfold over the next four years.
Ray unsuccessfully tried to buy the
company from his stepmother, left the
company with $17,000 and started
SonicAir Couriers, a same day air courier
servicing the entire United States. SonicAir
was the first company to achieve Inc. 500’s
“Fastest Growing Companies” for 3 years in
a row. After joining YPO in Los Angeles
in 1984, Ray purchased a larger company
based in Phoenix, AZ and relocated there.
SonicAir evolved into a logistics company
by adding warehousing, distribution,
supply chain software and consulting
to large multinational corporations in
medical and technology industries. After
20 years, SonicAir was purchased by UPS.
Ray moved to Atlanta as Chairman of
UPS Worldwide Logistics, a group of five
disparate companies, in 1997. With Ray’s
expertise in supply chain management,
he turned the companies around and into
a cohesive supply chain leader.
UPS Logistics is now an over $10
billion division.
Since Ray’s retirement from UPS, he
has made over 40 different investments
and remains active in many of these
companies. He was the recipient of many
local and national awards including:
Arizona Governor’s Award for Quality;
ASU Entrepreneur of the Year; U of A’s
Entrepreneur Fellowship; Inc. Magazine
Entrepreneur of the Year; 4 Anderson
awards for quality and innovative practices
as well as several others. He is an active
board member of TGen Foundation
(Translational Genomics) and an
emeritus board member of Conservation
International, dedicating his time and
energies to improved business processes
towards measurable outcomes as well as
strategic issues. Ray has won, respectively,
the Senator John McCain Award for
Leadership and the Chairman’s Award for
his efforts with these two non-profits. He
has just added a project where he will work
with Barrows Neurological Institute on a
new method for treating cancer tumors and
just recently completed a brain cancer study.
Ray is currently an advisor to the
Governor of Arizona on Lean Six Sigma
implementation. Ray and Amy have been
married for 30 years. They have two boys,
Wyatt – a graduate of U of A Business
School who began his first successful
startup company in 2012; and Matthew – a
graduate of University of San Francisco. The
family splits its time between Jackson Hole,
Wyoming and Paradise Valley, Arizona.
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