Gun Denhart, originally from Sweden, founded the Hanna Andersson children’s clothing company in 1983 in the garage of her Portland home. Through her leadership, the company became known for its quality cotton clothing, family-friendly employee policies, and innovative contributions to the community through nonprofit and school partnerships. She pioneered and was nationally recognized for many family-friendly workplace policies, including child care reimbursements for employees and flexible working hours. Gun co-authored the book Growing Local Value, showing how to leverage every aspect of a business, and she remains keenly interested in sustainable improvements in our society, including place-based impact investing.
Gun is a past co-chair of Ecotrust. She currently serves on the Stand for Children Oregon Advisory Board and the board of the Lund University Foundation. She is a founding member and past chair of the Oregon Business Association and a past board member of Mercy Corps and Business for Social Responsibility, of which Hanna Andersson was a founding member. She lives in Portland and has three sons and six granddaughters.