The leadership team: Committed to excellence

JD John Dietrich became President & Chief Executive Officer of Atlas Air Worldwide and Atlas Air, Inc., its primary operating subsidiary, in January 2020. He was also elected to the Atlas Air Worldwide Board of Directors at such time. Prior to January 2020, he served as President of Atlas Air Worldwide from July 2019 to December 2019 and President and Chief Operating Officer of Atlas Air, Inc. from October 2014 to December 2019. Atlas Air Worldwide is a leading global provider of outsourced aircraft and aviation operating services. Mr. Dietrich is also President & Chief Executive Officer of Southern Air, Inc., an airline acquired by Atlas Air Worldwide in 2016.

Mr. Dietrich has over 30 years’ experience in all facets of aviation and airline management. He serves as Chairman of the National Defense Transportation Association. He also sits on the Board of Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, Inc., a joint venture airline with DHL Express, and the Board of AACT, a Korean joint venture for warehouse and ground handling services.

Mr. Dietrich joined Atlas Air Worldwide in 1999 as Associate General Counsel and in 2004 was promoted to Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary. In that role, he also had responsibility for Human Resources and Corporate Communications.

Prior to joining AAWW, Mr. Dietrich spent 13 years at United Airlines, seven of those as a litigation attorney. At both United and AAWW, he was responsible for providing legal counsel to all levels of management and served as an advisor on issues related to labor relations, employment and commercial litigation.

Lars Winkelbauer became Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Polar Air Cargo Worldwide in July 2018. Based in Purchase, New York, he has responsibility for all aspects of aviation operations, strategy, and service performance in the worldwide Polar network.

Before rejoining Polar, Mr. Winkelbauer served as Vice President Aviation Express for DHL Asia Pacific from 2014 to 2018.

Mr. Winkelbauer previously held the position as Polar’s Vice President, Marketing, Revenue Management & Network Planning and was responsible for all aspects of marketing, revenue management, capacity management and network planning. Prior to that, he was Senior Director, Global Network Management & Planning and Director of Capacity Management for the Americas Region. Before joining Polar, he worked within the Lufthansa Group, where he held a number of management roles in North America, the Middle East and Africa.

Mr. Winkelbauer received his bachelor degree in international business and marketing from Loyola University in New Orleans and master degree in international management from Long Island University’s C.W. Post branch and Franklin College, Switzerland.

Adam Kokas is responsible for directing the company’s legal and regulatory affairs, as well as overseeing all corporate governance matters. He joined AAWW as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary in October 2006.

Mr. Kokas joined AAWW from Ropes & Gray LLP, where he was a partner in its Corporate Department, focusing on general corporate, securities and business law. Prior to joining Ropes & Gray, Mr. Kokas was a partner at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, where he joined as an associate in 2001. At both Kelley Drye and at Ropes & Gray, Mr. Kokas had represented AAWW in a variety of matters, including corporate finance transactions, corporate governance matters, strategic alliances, securities matters, and other general corporate issues.

Mr. Kokas earned his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, and is a cum laude graduate of the Boston University School of Law, where he was an Edward M. Hennessey scholar. He is a member of the Bar in New York and New Jersey.

Thomas Betenia oversees all sales and marketing activities in the Americas. This includes building on Polar’s existing business with its scheduled-service customers while leveraging the company’s added express capabilities on behalf of current and prospective customers.

Mr. Betenia joined the company in January 2008 from Lufthansa Cargo, where he most recently served as Director of sales and handling for the U.S. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. During his 26-year career at Lufthansa, he held positions of increasing responsibility in areas as diverse as accounting, flight operations, network planning, project management, and sales and marketing.

His previous expertise throughout the Americas is helpful in Polar’s mission to high-quality, high-reliability service required in the express business while serving freight-forwarder customers with convenient schedules on existing routes.

Mr. Betenia earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a master’s in business administration from Suffield University in The United Kingdom.

Sylvie Blondeel is responsible for all aspects of financial management, planning and reporting for Polar. She 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 promoted to Director in August 2010, Senior Director in June 2012 and Chief Financial Officer of Polar in April 2014.

Prior to joining Polar, Sylvie held roles of increasing importance at The Stanley Works in New Britain, Connecticut including Integration Manager, Mergers & Acquisitions.

Sylvie holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Audencia, a Business School in Nantes, France, and a Master of Business Administration from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

Jeffrey Carlson is the newest member of the Polar’s executive team. He was named Vice President of Flight Operations in September 2008.

A veteran captain, Mr. Carlson joined Polar from Spirit Airlines, where he served as vice president of flight operations. He is responsible for all of flight operations, including hiring, training, operations control, flight dispatch and crew scheduling at both Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo Worldwide.

Mr. Carlson, a former chief pilot and vice president of flight operations at Northwest Airlines, has more than 15,000 hours of flying time on numerous aircraft, including the Boeing 747-400, a gauge which is operated by both Atlas and Polar. Among his achievements at Northwest, he partnered with Boeing to launch the Boeing 747-400 training program, which remains the industry standard today.

Mr. Carlson has a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical science from Embry Riddle University, and is a recipient of the university’s Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award.

Based at Polar’s regional office in Hong Kong, Ms. Krepp is responsible for all Polar activities in the region, including China, Japan and South Korea. She has been in the position since 2002, providing strong leadership in the region.

Prior to joining Polar, Ms. Krepp spent 11 years with Evergreen International Airlines, rising to the position of Senior Vice President for Asia. Krepp also founded and was Chief Operating Officer of V-Logic, an international logistics and chain management provider.

A graduate of the University of Western Ontario in Canada, Ms. Krepp earned a master’s degree in business administration from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology/Kellogg School of Management joint degree program.

In his role as Vice President Marketing, Revenue Management and Network Planning, Abilash Kurien is responsible for all aspects of marketing, revenue management and reporting, capacity management and network planning for Polar Air Cargo Worldwide (PACW).

Abi joined PACW in 2008 as Director Business Development and Excellence and was promoted to Senior Director in 2010. He managed the Business Development and Excellence team, responsible for Polar’s revenue management, reporting, revenue verification, claims, training and network performance reporting.

Abi has a career history of accomplished International experience and direct involvement in global strategic business planning, operational management and sales/marketing initiatives.

Prior to joining Polar, Abi spent 12 years with Lufthansa Cargo where he held assignments of increasing importance culminating in his position as District Manager of Sales and Handling – Washington DC, Southern Ohio and Kentucky. He also held various positions for Lufthansa Cargo, with responsibility for business in the Middle East, South East Asia, China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, India, Australia and South America.

Based in Polar Air Cargo Worldwide (PACW) headquarters office in Purchase, New York, Carlton Llewellyn is responsible for daily operations and compliance oversight for all Polar Air Ground Operations and outsourced service provider activities. He works closely with station managers and Atlas Air Ground Operations to develop, improve and implement processes and coordinate new station start-ups.

Carlton joined PACW in 1995 as a Ground Operations Station Representative at JFK Airport in Jamaica, New York. Throughout the past 21 years, he has held positions of increasing importance. He led the Ground Operations team responsible for the initial PACW IOSA certification in 2007 and continued to coordinate recurring IATA audits. He was the administrator of the Polar/DHL Sable Weight and Balance program, and he was a key member of the team that transitioned the Polar network from a pure cargo operation to an express operation with 98% on-time performance within 15-minutes.

Carlton is a strategic and results-driven leader who has many relationships with Polar, Atlas and DHL station managers around the world.