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Irish business community hails IAM founder’s seven decades of achievement

[ February 24, 2021   //   ]

Chairman of Dublin airfreight general sales agent, Sean McCool, has been inducted into the All-Ireland Business Foundation’s Hall of Fame.

By no means the only accolade that he has gained in his near-90 years, induction as a laureate into the Hall recognises distinguished members of the Irish Business community and those elected represent the highest achievement in their field, as well as serving as an to current and future generations.

Deputy chair of the Foundation’s adjudication board, Kieran Ring, explained that McCool’s pioneering work “has made an enormous contribution to the flow of cargo on and off the island, an infrastructure which has established Ireland as a major global export hub”.

Sean McCool himself said: “I am delighted to have been selected for this lovely award and would like to issue my heartfelt congratulations to the other accredited companies and to the All-Ireland Business Foundation for its excellent work bringing business partners together.”

McCool’s seven decade career took him well beyond the shores of Ireland. In the 1950s he held numerous senior positions including key roles in Seaboard World Airlines, Brinks, who he introduced to Ireland and Aer Lingus commercial cargo, where he was responsible for the establishment of the highly successful cargo operation in Ireland and Europe.

He went on to senior roles at Aer Lingus and also established a number of companies in the Shannon Free Zone. In 1987, he became chairman at Ryanair Executive Jet Terminals and, a year on, Sean went to South Africa as general manager of Hudson Offshore Holdings and, in 1988-89, on behalf of Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), successfully negotiated with the Yemeni Government a massive capital project to refurbish the Aden Refinery.

He is a founder member of the Irish Air Cargo Institute and the Irish Institute of Freight Forwarders (IIFA), where he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship for service to industry. During his time with the IIFA, he played a crucial part in Ireland’s two successful bids to host the prestigious international FIATA Congress events in Dublin

Last but by no means least, he founded International Airline Marketing Group in 1989, Ireland’s largest air cargo general sales and service agent, responsible for over a quarter of all airfreight traffic from Ireland. Working on behalf of numerous world leading airlines such as American Airlines, Etihad Airways, Air Canada and All Nippon Airways, IAM also offers cargo trucking, handling specialist training, product protection solutions and consultancy services. InSeptember 2005, IAM reached the 1 million kilo per month mark for the first time and continues to break tonnage and revenue records on behalf of client airlines.

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