Former Airlink CEO Steve Smith Named Airforwarders Association CEO

The U.S.-based Airforwarders Association (AfA) named former Airlink CEO Steve Smith its new CEO, replacing longtime AfA head Brandon Fried.

Smith led Airlink—the nonprofit organization that works with airlines and nonprofit partners to coordinate airlift and logistics to provide humanitarian aid in response to disasters—for 13 years. He stepped down from the role in October 2025, replaced by Paloma Adams-Allen.

Fried is stepping down after leading AfA for 21 years. He will remain with the organization during a transition period.

“We're the architects of supply chains,” Fried told Aviation Week’s Window Seat podcast last year. “We don't own airplanes, but we manage the logistics process to get products to market quickly and efficiently, and for businesses of all sizes and all types of niches.”

• Listen to the full interview with Fried on Window Seat.
• Listen to Smith’s appearance on Window Seat discussing Airlink’s humanitarian work.

Smith said he will focus on “shifting trade policy, geopolitical disruption and aging infrastructure, adding pressure on supply chains that are already stretched.”

AfA is particularly centered on advocating to Congress and U.S. government agencies on behalf of airforwarders.