Member of the Icelandic Parliament — Sjálfstæðisflokkur
Jens Garðar Helgason is a member of parliament for the Independence Party representing the Northeast Constituency since 2024. He has long been prominent in Icelandic business, particularly in fisheries and aquaculture, and played a key role in the Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners as chairman from 2014 to 2020. Jens Garðar also served as vice chairman of the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise during the same period and has held numerous board positions at leading institutions and companies across the country. Before taking his seat in parliament, Jens Garðar had extensive experience in both business and municipal politics. He served as managing director of Fiskimiðlar for nearly twenty years, CEO of Laxa Aquaculture, and later deputy CEO of Kaldvík. In municipal politics, he sat on the municipal council of Fjarðabyggð from 2006 to 2019 and was chairman of the town council for eight years. With extensive management experience, decades of knowledge in fisheries, and experience in local issues, he has brought broad perspective and expertise to the parliamentary benches of the Althingi.
Jens Garðar began his career as an office and factory worker at Hraðfrystihús Eskifjarðar from 1996 to 1997, where he gained his first experience in the fishing industry. In 2000, he became managing director of Fiskimiðlar, a position he held for nearly twenty years until 2019. During this period, he worked on building and developing the company and was involved in numerous business agreements in the industry. His tenure at Fiskimiðlar was a period of steady growth and he established himself at the forefront of Icelandic fisheries. In 2019, Jens Garðar became CEO of Laxa Aquaculture and led the company until 2022, a period when aquaculture was establishing itself as a growing sector in Iceland. He then took on the role of deputy CEO of Kaldvík in 2022 and held that position until 2024 when he was elected to parliament. Throughout his career, he has championed various innovations in the industry and sought knowledge abroad to strengthen Icelandic fisheries. Alongside his work in business, Jens Garðar has held a variety of positions of trust. He sat on the municipal council of Fjarðabyggð from 2006 to 2019 and was chairman of the town council for eight years, from 2010 to 2018. He has also served on the boards of many of the country's leading institutions, including Promote Iceland, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the University of Akureyri, and Landsvirkjun. This extensive management experience has given him an overview of both public and private enterprises in Iceland.