When people see the name Jarl Severn, they may automatically assume that he is a foreigner who has parachuted into the top job at successful Oxfordshire medical instrument manufacturer Owen Mumford.

But that could not be further from the truth. His first name comes from his Danish mother but his surname is British and his background was forged in the steel town of Corby in Northamptonshire where father Albert had put down roots in the steel industry.

After some “pretty average” A-Level results, he decided to get a job rather than going into higher education.

Mr Severn, 50, said: “In the 1970s it was more about earning the first wage packet. That was the environment I grew up in.”

He landed a job as an assistant accountant with RS Components in Corby but knew he wasn’t happy.

“Fortunately, my girlfriend at the time picked up a newspaper where there was a job ad for a sales administrator for a company called Codan Rubber which involved two weeks of training in Copenhagen.”

Codan was a Danish subsidiary of the Mersk Group, a huge international corporation and, being a Danish speaker, he landed the job and stayed on for 11 years in a variety of different roles before deciding to return to the UK.

Then he was head hunted to join Invacare, one of the largest manufacturers of medical equipment in the world.

“They sent me to Copenhagen to support the vice-president in the £250m integration of two companies. After that I was asked if I would be managing director of the Swiss operation and moved there for five years.”

Returning to the UK, he joined the board of disabled accessories business Chiltern Invadex in Bicester and faced his biggest challenge to date.

“I embarked on a two-year turnaround programme and it was eventually sold out of administration to a supplier. The chairman then invited me to get involved with more turnarounds. It is a high energy world and a totally different business experience.”

In 2008, Owen Mumford came calling. Already a successful medical devices business, he was tasked with taking it to the next level giving him a new experience of growing a smaller firm during a recession under the close scrutiny of family board members.

“At the first board meeting I was faced with people who had a combined 200 years of experience compared to my 30 days,” he recalled.

But his experience has meant he is a fast learner. And once he had grasped how the business worked, he mapped out a strategy called 2020 VISION — a blueprint of how he wanted the business to look by 2020.

“I sat down with my management team and asked ‘What do you want us to be?’ We then put it in writing, produced a booklet and sent it to every member of staff around the world.”

Once the plan was in place, it was immediately put into action. Since 2008 the business has grown from having a £50m turnover to £75m last year. Again Mr Severn’s style has been innovative.

“I spent my first year separating the business into ‘boxes’. Within those boxes you can make decisions and that helped me decide who was going to do what going forward. I introduced a new executive team.”

China was identified as a key new market and the business now has a foothold in lucrative new territory as there are 90 million diabetics there for which Owen Mumford produces its Autopen insulin injection devices.

Mr Severn takes pride in the fact that devices administering almost £6bn worth of drugs are manufactured in Chipping Norton and the figure is growing all the time.

The business has 50 people designing and developing new products and 128 patents with up to 20 new ones are registered every year.

And all this has been achieved with zero debt, despite a total of £10m being invested in the Woodstock and Chipping Norton facilities.

With such figures, it is little wonder Owen Mumford picked up the overall title at the Oxfordshire Business of the Year Awards last year as well as winning the export category.

Mr Severn said: “Most importantly I hope it raises our profile and gives us recognition in the in the local community.”

And despite his achievements, Mr Severn’s ambition remains as deep-seated as ever. “Our aspiration is to double in size by 2020. That is what we believe we can afford to do,” he said.

Contact: 01993 812021 Web: www.owenmumford.com