EY Family Business award winners 2019-20 - Denmark

Bent Jensen’s innovative idea forged a new industry and grew LINAK into a global company.

We are delighted to celebrate the recipients of the EY Family Business Award of Excellence 2019-20, an honor that recognizes excellence in family businesses. Congratulations to this year’s winners for Denmark:

Bent Jensen - CEO and Owner, LINAK A/S

LINAK has gone through a remarkable transformation since being founded in 1907. It originally made pulleys and grinding mills, but, when Bent joined the family company in 1976, he brought with him a brand new idea: the design for the first actuator. It was an invention that was to change the course of the company and set it on a steep growth trajectory.

Bent came up with the idea while working on a wheelchair for a disabled fellow student; he discovered that he could make linear actuators convert power into linear motion. These devices are now used around the world in industrial equipment, furniture and hospital beds, greatly improving the lives of their users.

LINAK now has more than 2,400 dedicated employees; production facilities in Denmark, Slovakia, China and the USA; and subsidiaries in more than 35 countries. Bent’s leadership has ensured that the company retains its position as the world leader in the design and manufacturing of electric actuator systems. His ambition is to “maintain our position in our different segments and ensure that the LINAK name is still there in the future.”