Polar Air Cargo Worldwide hired Lufthansa Cargo veteran Thomas Betenia as vice president sales and marketing, Americas, effective Jan. 7.

Betenia oversaw both sales and handling for the U.S. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions at Lufthansa Cargo. At Polar, he will be responsible for all sales and marketing activities in the Americas. His focus will be on building Polar's existing business with its scheduled-service customers and leveraging the company's added express capabilities on behalf of current and prospective customers.

Betenia will have a hand in network and geographic integration for express service for DHL, which is scheduled to begin in October.

DHL owns a 49 percent stake in the company. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings owns the other 51 percent.

"With 27 years in the industry, Tom is the ideal person to share and articulate Polar's value proposition with customers, and to grow our existing business and cultivate new business in the Americas," said Michael Steen, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, AAWW.