Celebrating
The Great Joe Berg
 We
made a mistake, a big one, in our last issue when Joe Berg somehow ended
up in an “In Memoriam” salute wrap up report of first decade
of the 21st century.
So we are happy to report that Joe Berg,
a dreamer and a doer who graced the air cargo industry with his intelligence
and charm, diligence and hard work for half a century, and by any measure
can be counted as part of that small cadre of true pioneers of the form
of air freight forwarding, in 2010 is alive and well and living in Stamford,
Connecticut.
Joe once operated a Connecticut USA company
called Air Express International “Wings & Wheels.”
Along the way he changed the way the world
did air cargo forever.
In fact today although the song of a grand lifetime career has ended,
the melody lingers on.
But that is just the mark of the man.
His friend Guenter Rohrmann tells us what
it is about Joe Berg:
“Out of the AEI family emerged a
truly remarkable leader whose thoughts and actions impacted the methods
and standards of international air commerce.
“Forty seven years ago I came to
know Joe as a professional and even more importantly as a profound human
being.
“He was able to do things and walk
in places for the first time that changed air commerce forever.
“Together with the late John Emery
Jr., Joe brought about a fundamental change that continues today as
a matter of fact in air cargo when the two “competitors”
teamed up and fought the old USA Civil Aviation Board (CAB) and created
the method under which commissions would be paid to agents on consolidations.
“In 1978 as the airline business
in USA was deregulated and some smaller cities lost airline service,
Joe was out front as the driving force behind creating an all cargo
airline that would serve those cities.
“Although commitments were made
to share profits and losses from a large domestic competitor, the partnership
unfortunately was not continued.
“But the gauntlet had been thrown
down and AEI was an air cargo business innovator and concerned shipping
partner in deeds and well as words.
“Perhaps of all the lasting contributions
Joe gave to air cargo, none has been as far reaching as creation of
the Logis AEI Global IT System.
“Logis AEI changed everything when
with vision and complete dedication Joe forged a great IT system out
of the 20 or so systems that existed and were in use throughout the
AEI world.
“In 1981 Joe Berg brought revolutionary
IT to AEI and air cargo.
“But behind it all Joe Berg is also
a great human being.
“He has a keen eye for opportunity
and the ability to see both sides of a question and more than enough
courage to innovate and lay down new paths.
“Joe is also warm and ethical to
the core, easy in one-on-one relations, tough when the situation demands,
and also open to new ideas.
“Simply put, Joe Berg shaped AEI
in his own image and although things changed after he departed, his
presence was always keenly felt and his influence was never lost.”
Joseph N. Berg turns 83 this year, was
born on April 26, 1927 in Newport, Rhode Island but was raised in Camden,
NJ, graduating from Camden High School where he was a successful athlete,
having lettered in Track & Field, Football, and Baseball.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army in Spring
1945, and returned to civilian life in spring 1947.
He attended undergraduate classes, first
at the University of Richmond on a football scholarship and under the
G.I. Bill, but completed his degree in Romance Languages from Mexico
City College in 1950.
He also attended the University of Pennsylvania
for some graduate level work, but later rounded out his studies at a
Harvard Executive Education program in 1987.
He was an accomplished Weight Lifter -
winning Gold Medals in the 1947 and 1948 Virginia State Championships.
He married Renee Neibart in March, 1952,
and together they have three sons (Jonathan, Donald and Paul).
Joe's first job came as a salesman selling
Penn Fishing Reels in Philadelphia in 1950, but he first joined the
air freight business with the Peter Bernacki Company in Philadelphia
where he worked from 1950 to 1955.
In 1955 he then joined Air Express International
(AEI), establishing a Philadelphia office and becoming its District
Manager.
Air Express transferred him to Idlewild
(JFK) to become Station Manager in 1960, and then again on to Frankfurt,
Germany in 1963 to assume the role of Vice President for Europe, Africa,
and the Middle East.
After spending two years in Paris with
the same title, he later returned to Frankfurt before returning to the
U.S. with this family in 1969.
In 1969 Joe became a Vice President with
Circle Air Freight, a position which he held until becoming the President
and CEO of Air Express International in 1973.
After 12 years as President, he retired
from Air Express in 1985 and again returned to Circle International
becoming its President, USA from 1986 to 1989.
In 1991 he joined Dynamic Air Freight
as its President until 1992.
After several years of partial retirement,
he joined with the International Executive Service Corps (IESC), and
performed as a consultant on location with assignments in Cairo, Egypt
in 1994, Siberia, Russia in 1995 and again in 1996, and in the Ukraine
in 1997.
Joe is a multi-linguist, with perfect
fluency in both Spanish and German, and a strong working knowledge of
French and Russian.
He has been an avid hunter and sportsman,
having been on several safaris to Africa and Australia.
His work and leisure have repeatedly brought
him to more than 75 countries on six continents.
He has been a lifelong collector of both
stamps and books, and has amassed one of the largest private libraries
on African hunting and exploration.
Today at home with his wife of 57 years
he still enjoys lifting weights at a local gym, and continues to travel
abroad.
Guenter Rohrmann concludes:
“The name Berg in German translates
into English as “mountain”.
As it happens, that is exactly what Joe
Berg has been to hundreds even thousands of people in and out of air
cargo and elsewhere during his life.
Joe is a solid rock of a human being,
a mountain of forward looking leadership and unselfish decency.”
Keep on keepin’ on, dear Joe.
Geoffrey
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Major
tool for transiting growing volumes via Seoul is Asiana Airlines Cargo
that intends to increase frequencies and put in more scheduled flights
especially to and from China. 
The other third came from producers
in either China or Japan or was destined to consignees there respectively
transited from intercontinental to intercontinental flights via Seoul’s
gateway Incheon.
Axel
Heitmann (right) with Karl-Heinz Koepfle, member of the Board of Lufthansa
Cargo as Frankfurt Animal Lounge was dedicated last year.
