MANAGING DIRECTOR, K. PREBEN HANSEN’S 40TH WORK ANNIVERSARY
Tuesday August 1st, 2023, we celebrate Managing Director, K. Preben Hansen’s 40 years with our company.
1983 was the year that Preben began his career at Jørgen Hansen’s Maskinfabrik (now Moldow). 1983 was also the year that Preben’s father, founder Jørgen Hansen, died suddently. This was the reason why Preben, who had just finished Upper Secondary School, was employed in the company the same year, so he and his mother, Mary Hansen, could continue to run the company after his father’s death.
From Newbie at a Local Company to Director of an International Company
To get familiar with the field and the company’s products, Preben started as a fitter, after which he continued as a project manager. Preben showed good leadership skills, and after some time he took over the management of the company in close collaboration with his mother and sister, Birgitte Ipsen, who had also joined the company after graduating.
Moldow’s strong results and development over the years testify to Preben’s ability to lead the company, identify possibilities but also limitations and make the right decisions.
Well-prepared, well-spoken, well-informed and well-liked are words that describe Preben very well – both as a leader and as a person.
In everyday life at the office, Preben is a committed leader who sees the big picture and demonstrates in-depth knowledge of the company’s projects and products. He is always ready with constructive advice and a critical view on things. In general, he approaches things with thoroughness and is not afraid go all the way when it feels right.
When he started, the company had 25 employees and sold mainly to the Nordic countries. Today the Moldow Group employes 110 people and exports to the whole world. Since the beginning, Preben has been crucial to securing the acquisition of four competing companies, establishing important customer relationships, setting up companies and offices in several different countries and ensuring a strong financial foundation for the company, just to mention some, all of which have secured the company’s development and future.
Passion for Speedway
Preben’s interest in speedway has grown steadily over the years, but it dates back to his childhood, when both Preben, his sister and cousin were rode speedway in Holsted.
In 2004, Preben attended a Speedway Grand Prix in Copenhagen, where the then reigning world champion, Danish Nicki Pedersen, drove without a sponsor on one of this shoulders. A good friend asked if it wasn’t an obvious place for Moldow’s logo – and that really became the starting point for Preben’s and Moldow’s large financial support to the speedway sport and Nicki Pedersen in particular.
In addition to Moldow supporting both Holsted Speedway Club, many of the club’s riders and various events every year, Preben is the volunteer director of the club and spends a lot of his spare time on that.
The K is actually short for Kai, which is a name he inherited from this grandfather.
Preben at his first exhibition in 1984
Moldow Speedway Arena is the home track in Holsted