Atlas Air gives up board diversity as PE group takes over

Illustration 1790593 © Theodor38 | Dreamstime.com

Atlas Air, which on Friday finally consummated its merger with an Apollo-led group of investors, has seen an immediate board change: only two directors remain, CEO John Dietrich and Walter Borst, while the others, including three women, have left.

The new board includes just one woman, Betsy Atkins, who also appears to be the only member not connected to the airline’s new private equity owners.

One new director is from Hill City Capital, two are from Lehman and four from Apollo, two of whom recently had to leave the board of Sun Country, an Amazon supplier, over a possible conflict of interests.

Atlas Air was named among the Women’s Forum of New York’s 2021 Corporate Champions, in recognition of its attempt to get gender balance on its corporate board. Shareholders had expressed concern in 2018 over Atlas’s lack of diversity in the boardroom. The board is now strongly white and male.

The new members include Herbert “Chip” Frazier, William Hanenberg, Alexander Harman, Patrick Kearney, Antoine Munfakh, Jason Scheir and David Siegel.

No other job changes have been announced, but one insider said staff had been on tenterhooks for a while.