09.12.2014

Hasenfratz – entrepreneur of the year

Linda Hasenfratz, the chief executive of Linamar - owner of Skyjack - is Canada’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2014.

The award, which has been running for 21 years, looks to find the country’s 'most impressive entrepreneurs from all areas of business, with finalists chosen based on their vision, leadership, financial success and social responsibility'. The winner is then put forward as the country's representative in a competition to find a worldwide entrepreneur of the year.
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Linda Hasenfratz

Hasenfratz joined the family business in 1990 on the shop floor as a machine operator and worked her way through the various levels of the business until she was appointed chief executive in 2002. Since then she has gone on to expand and transform the business into a world leading automotive manufacturing business.

Colleen McMorrow, EY partner and National Entrepreneur of the Year programme director, said: “If ever there was an entrepreneur who defied gravity Linda Hasenfratz is it! She has quadrupled sales and grown the company’s workforce to 18,000 during the most volatile times her industry has ever faced. She has changed the game, and the results are amazing.”