Michael T. Steen
Chief Executive Officer of Atlas Air Worldwide
Mr. Steen has more than 30 years of experience in global aviation and logistics, including 16 years of executive leadership experience with Atlas. Mr. Steen is responsible for designing and executing the strategic growth plans for Atlas Air Worldwide and its global operating airlines, Atlas Air, Inc. and Polar Air Cargo, a joint venture airline with DHL Express, and its wholly-owned dry-leasing company, Titan Aviation Holdings, Inc.
With nearly 5,000 employees, the Atlas Air Worldwide companies serve the e-commerce, express and general air freight markets in more than 250 destinations in 90 countries and are a major supplier to Alibaba, Amazon, DHL Express, FedEx, HP, Inditex, Kuehne+Nagel, NCA, Qantas, SF Express, UPS and the U.S. military. Together, they operate the world’s largest fleet of 747 freighter aircraft and provide customers the broadest array of Boeing 747, 777, 767 and 737 aircraft and complementary aviation services.
Mr. Steen assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer in June 2023. Prior to taking this post, Michael served as Chief Commercial Officer since 2007 and has been responsible for leading the Company’s strategy and growing market share, as well as developing and diversifying the Company’s roster of blue-chip customers. In that role, Mr. Steen had oversight of all aspects of the Company’s global sales and marketing activities, including strategy, new products and services, brand positioning and marketing communications.
Through Mr. Steen’s tenure, the Company has grown to be the world’s second-largest airfreight operator measured by freight tonne kilometers (FTKs). Michael has led the Company’s diversification strategy, expanding the Company’s service offerings and growing the fleet from a single 747-gauge ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance, insurance) cargo business to many gauges of aircraft, as well as the expansion into passenger service and aircraft leasing businesses.
Additionally, Mr. Steen served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Titan, which since its inception in 2009 has grown to become the third largest freighter lessor globally by fleet value.
Mr. Steen has both broad and unique experience in the aviation and logistics sectors, having served global leadership roles at market leaders including DHL, Exel Plc and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of CHC Helicopter and several industry advisory boards.
A native of Sweden, Mr. Steen earned a degree in economics in Gothenburg Sweden and is an alumnus of the Advanced Executive Program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Jon Olin
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Jon OIin was named Polar’s EVP and Chief Operating Officer in January 2022. He is responsible for all aspects of the company’s aviation operations, strategy, and service performance across the global Polar network. Polar’s Senior Management Team reports to Mr. Olin.
Prior to joining Polar, Mr. Olin served as Vice President, Americas Region at DHL Express.
Mr. Olin’s aviation leadership experience includes roles as SVP, Corporate Strategy & Administration at Amerijet International; Chief Legal and Administrative Officer of Southern Air Holdings; and EVP & General Counsel, Deutsche Post- DHL Americas. He began his career at DHL, where he advanced through a series of business leadership and advisory roles during his 15 year tenure.
Mr. Olin holds a JD from Santa Clara University School of Law, a Master of Laws degree in transnational business from University of the Pacific – McGeorge School of Law, and a BA from University of Iowa. He was also a Fulbright Scholar at the Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea.
George Kopcsay
General Counsel, Atlas Air Worldwide
Sylvie Blondeel
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Sylvie Blondeel is responsible for all aspects of financial management, planning and reporting, revenue verification and management, as well as administration for Polar. She is also the executive leader of Polar’s ESG initiatives.
Ms. Blondeel joined the company in April 2008 as Manager, Financial Planning and Analysis, and has been promoted to positions of increasing responsibility over the years. She was named Vice President & CFO in 2014 and promoted to Senior Vice President in 2021. Ms. Blondeel is a member of Polar’s Senior Management Team.
Prior to joining Polar, Ms. Blondeel was with Stanley Black & Decker where she started in the Finance Leadership Rotational Program, before joining the Corporate Operations Finance group and ultimately managing integration of new acquisitions. She began her career as a financial analyst with IBM in France.
Ms. Blondeel holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Audencia in Nantes, France, and a Master of Business Administration from The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH.
Patricia Goodwin-Peters
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Ms. Goodwin-Peters is responsible for providing strategic leadership through the development of Human Resources policies and practices that reflect the Company’s values and support its strategy.
Ms. Goodwin-Peters joined Atlas Air in 2018 with more than 15 years of Human Resources experience. Before joining Atlas, Ms. Goodwin-Peters was the Head of Human Resources North America for Kate Spade & Co. and was responsible for talent identification and management initiatives and served as a liaison to the Board of Directors on topics of talent strategy and executive compensation. Additionally, she led company-wide culture enhancement programs and learning and organization development. Prior to Kate Spade, Ms. Goodwin-Peters held senior HR positions with Aeropostale, Inc. and Ralph Lauren where she led global performance management and mobilization programs that facilitated significant company growth.
Ms. Goodwin-Peters holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Fordham University and an MBA from the Zicklin School of Business.
Kersti Krepp
Senior Vice President and Chief Management Officer
Appointed SVP & Chief Management Officer in 2024, Kersti Krepp is responsible for leading the all-cargo carrier’s business with oversight of the senior management team and commercial leadership team, as well as the company’s strategic communications. Ms. Krepp has been with Polar Air Cargo for more than 20 years, and an air cargo executive for nearly three decades.
Prior to her role as Chief Management Officer, Ms. Krepp served as Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for Polar’s end-to-end commercial strategy encompassing sales, customer service, marketing, and account management.
Ms. Krepp joined Polar in 2002 in Hong Kong, focused on sales and customer relationships. She took on increasing responsibilities as she drove Polar’s expansion across the APAC region. She served as Vice President, Sales and Marketing for the APAC region prior to her appointment as SVP and Chief Commercial Officer.
Ms. Krepp began her career in aviation with Evergreen in the U.S. and relocated to Hong Kong to serve as Senior Vice President, Asia, where she was responsible for opening and running Asia commercial operations for that carrier. She also co-founded and was Chief Operating Officer of V-Logic, an international logistics and supply chain management provider.
A graduate of the University of Western Ontario in Canada, Ms. Krepp earned a Master of Business Administration from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology/Kellogg School of Management joint degree program.
Scot Ridgway
Vice President, Flight Operations
Scot Ridgway is Vice President, Flight Operations at Atlas Air Worldwide and is responsible for Regulatory Compliance Excellence as part of the Company’s flight operations strategy, crew analysis and training.
Scot began his career with Atlas in 2005 as a 747 First Officer. He was later promoted to a 767 Captain and has since held positions of increasing responsibility, including Regional Chief Pilot in our ANC office, Director of Flight Operations Administration overseeing Dispatch and most recently, Senior Director of Operations for the Atlas Air certificate. Prior to this role, Scot was the Staff Vice President, Flight Operations and assumed daily operational duties for Flight Operations.
Ingrid Chariah
Senior Director, Network Planning
Ingrid Chariah is responsible for Polar’s global network. She develops strategies and leads the network planning and alliances team to implement slot coordination, network optimization and interline alliances that drive the best network options for Polar’s customers.
Ms. Chariah has served as senior director of network planning since 2021, and is a member of Polar’s Senior Management Team.
Ms. Chariah joined Polar in 2013 from its sister company Atlas Air, where she spent nine years advancing through roles including operations controller and charter operations coordinator before transferring to Polar as manager of express networks and rising through network operations roles of increasing responsibility. She started her aviation career at Virgin Atlantic Airways where she served from seven years, holding roles across the network.
Ms. Chariah was raised and educated in Trinidad, West Indies.
Drew McGee
Senior Director, Ground Operations
Drew McGee joined Polar as Senior Director, Ground Operations in 2021. He is responsible for daily operations and compliance oversight for all Polar Air Ground Operations globally as well as outsourced service provider activities. Mr. McGee works closely with station managers and Atlas Air Ground Operations to develop, improve and implement processes and coordinate new station start-ups.
Mr. McGee joined Polar from Atlas Air, where he managed ACMI solutions in North America as part of the Ground Ops team, including overseeing existing ACMI customers, onboarding new long-term charter customers, and helping open new stations. He has more than 20 years of experience in cargo and carrier management, spanning air and ocean freight. Prior to his role most recent role at Atlas, Mr. McGee was with Nippon Cargo Airlines, and before that he held roles of increasing responsibility at Panalpina, where he worked for a decade. He also spent five years with Polar and Atlas between 2000-2005.
Mr. McGee studied business management at Harper College in Illinois and Aviation Management at Southern Illinois University’s O’Hare campus.
Milind Shah
Senior Director, Technology & Business Solutions
Milind Shah leads Polar’s Information Technology organization, and is responsible for developing the company’s IT strategies that improve workplace experiences and allow Polar teams to provide best service quality to Polar customers. Mr. Shah was appointed to this role in June 2024 and is a member of Polar’s Senior Management Team.
Mr. Shah joined Polar as Senior Manager of Technology and Business Operations in 2019, and was promoted to Director, Technology and Business Solutions in 2022. He has overseen a number of critical technology evolutions at Polar to help the company advance on its priorities.
Prior to Polar, Mr. Shah held a series of technology consultant and operations roles with organizations including Delos, Promantus, the US Green Building Council and Global Computer Enterprises.
Mr. Shah holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Walch and Institute of Technology in Solapur, India, and a Master of Computer Science from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Board of Directors
Polar is managed by the Polar Air Cargo board of directors, and includes some of the most respected professionals in the industry.