Can do attitude propels Cathy to the top

Friday, 13 February 2009

WHEN Cathy Cleaver left her native New Zealand for a holiday in Australia her mother predicted she would never return.  Cathy said she would. As it turned out her mother did know best!  And with Cathy well and truly established as a leader in Australia’s freight forward industry a return to New Zealand is unlikely, writes Jenny Burns.

Since 2006 Cathy has been chief operating officer Australia/New Zealand for MCH Holding Aust. Pty Ltd.

In this role she is responsible for overseeing the operation of the group which is the general sales agent for Air Jamaica, Air Astana, Etihad Crystal Cargo, Jet Airways, Leisure Cargo and MASKargo.

While her position allows the occasional trip to New Zealand, where she has the chance to see her family, she admits Melbourne is now her home.

Cathy was head-hunted for the position with MCH in 2006 after leaving her previous job as service director, Airfreight Department with United Airlines.

“I had decided to take a break and look at a possible career change but then MCH approached me and I saw it was a great opportunity,” Cathy recalls.

“Now I can’t see I’ll ever leave the industry.

“This is a fantastic industry to work in; no two days are ever the same. It’s challenging and stimulating and covers so many different disciplines.

“Working in areas such as perishables always creates challenges, while I also really enjoy the staff training component of my job.

“Ensuring all our 30 employees are customer service orientated is a priority, I am a strong believer in the importance of customer service.

“Our company commitment is to make it happen, be customer focused and have the solutions.”

On joining MCH Cathy’s brief was to establish the ground-work for the new company and then to introduce an airline no one had heard of — Etihad — to the Australian market.

In more recent times Cathy’s priority has been preparing for Etihad’s expansion in Australia which now includes direct flights from Melbourne.

While Cathy is currently one of the few senior women in the freight forward industry she expects to see many more women in the next five years.

“This is a great career for women, involving many of the skills we are renowned for,” she says.

“We have excellent time management and planning skills, are good at coming up with solutions to problems in a short period of time and taking the necessary action to ensure things happen.”

Cathy cites the belief that freight forwarding was a ‘boys club’ as one of the reasons why it hasn’t attracted as many women executives in the past.

The attitude of women may be another.

“In the past it may have been that women working in this area haven’t really seen it as a career path but now that is changing,” she says.  There are some fantastic job opportunities out there.”

In many ways Cathy’s own career shows what can be achieved. Her first job in the industry was in 1987 when she joined A.E.I. as personal assistant to the Queensland manager.

When the position of perishable export co-ordinator arose she then took on that role.

In 1990 she left Brisbane and A.E. I. for the role in Melbourne with United Airlines. During her time at United Cathy won a number of awards including United Airlines Cargo Employee of the Year, Most Valued Team Player Award (UA Worldwide Cargo Awards presented to Australia), United Airlines Customer Satisfaction Award and Australia Cargo Employee.

“I am a very hands-on person and basically I have always had a can do anything if you put your mind to it attitude,” Cathy explains.

The one thing she hasn’t currently been able to do is achieve a work/life balance. In previous positions Cathy has found the time to put her diploma in textile/fashion designing she had achieved into action creating evening and bridal gowns and to pursue other interests such as swimming and gardening.

Now much of her time now is spent working.  Her job involves some travel, mainly to Abu Dhabi, yet given the demands of her chocolate brown Labrador, and the many communication advantages offered by the Internet, there’s not too much time in the air.

“I must admit that once I started this job my work/leisure balance disappeared,” she admits with a laugh.

“I will get that balance back, it’s just that I love what I am doing so much, but I will get there.”