Gun Denhart

Gun Denhart, a native of Sweden, founded the Hanna Andersson children's clothing company in 1983. Through her leadership, the company became known for its quality clothing made from soft cotton materials, family friendly employee policies and innovative contributions to the community through non-profit and school partnerships. She pioneered, and was nationally recognized for, many family friendly work place policies including childcare reimbursements for employees and flexible working hours. Before it was widely fashionable Gun was an early supporter of the use of organic cotton as well as requiring her vendors to meet the Oko-Tex standard - a European ecological certification process that tests dyes for harmful substances. Drawing on her business expertise and her social entrepreneurial vision Gun co-authored the book Growing Local Value, showing how to leverage every aspect of a business – from product creation to employee recruitment, vendor selection, and raising capitol – to benefit both the community and the bottom line. Gun’s passion lies in her work with local and national groups on children’s, environmental and sustainability issues. She is keenly interested in making sustainable improvements in our society, be it through business practices, socially responsible investing, advocacy, public policy or philanthropy. Gun is the Board Chair of Ecotrust and currently serves on the boards of Stand for Children, Mercy Corps and Threshold Group. She is a founding member and past chair of the Oregon Business Association. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum. Denhart is an enthusiastic hiker and yoga devotee. She lives in Portland and has three sons and five granddaughters.