The founder of the VKR Group, Villum Kann Rasmussen, was born in the Danish island of Mandø in 1909 and graduated in structural engineering in 1932 from the Polytechnic Institute in Copenhagen (now the Technical University of Denmark). After working in the glass roof trade for a number of years, on 1 April 1941, he founded the firm of V. Kann Rasmussen & Co in Copenhagen, specialising in glass roofs. In 1942, Villum Kann Rasmussen developed the VELUX roof window.

Villum Kann Rasmussen was an ingenious inventor and entrepreneur. Throughout his career, he was heavily involved in product development and worked on a number of inventions designed to bring daylight and fresh air into buildings, along with development of the AROMATIC coffee and tea maker from the 1960s and the VELSIT furniture range from the 1970s. Over the course of his career, Villum Kann Rasmussen took out 55 patents and registered nine designs and thereby laid the foundation for the innovation culture which prevails to this day in the VKR Group. The development work was characterized by the motto: "One experiment is worth more than a thousand expert views", which is still the abiding principle. In 1991, for his lifetime achievements as an inventor, experimental scientist and entrepreneur Villum Kann Rasmussen was made an honorary doctor of the Danish Technical University (DTU).

However, Villum Kann Rasmussen was innovative not only in his search for new products. He also put a great deal of effort into organisation, marketing and the company's values. In 1965, he formulated the "Model Company Objective" by which the VKR Group was to demonstrate social responsibility with products useful to society through model companies working in an exemplary manner. The ambition was also for all those with a stake in the company to be treated decently, while the company was to earn a profit that would secure its financial independence. The Model Company Objective was well ahead of its time because Villum Kann Rasmussen was focused not only on the products themselves, but also human relationships and resources. It was visionary in that it contained a stakeholder perspective, in which the object is to serve society's interests and those of the various groups involved in the company. The Model Company Objective endures as the foundation of the VKR Group's values.

Villum Kann Rasmussen also wished to give something back to society, and in 1971 founded the first VELUX foundation, which in 1981 was jointed by yet another foundation. The foundations VILLUM FONDEN and VELUX FONDEN AF 1981 currently rank among Denmark's most important charitable foundations supporting cultural causes and research. In 1990, Villum Kann Rasmussen received the Order of the Dannebrog for his charitable work through the VELUX foundations. Villum Kann Rasmussen was also responsible for the foundation VELUX Stiftung in Switzerland and the V. KANN RASMUSSEN FOUNDATION in the USA. In 1991 it was decided to establish an Employee Foundation for the VKR Group to provide support for employees and their close family in unfortunate circumstances, and support for the education of the children of employees.

Villum Kann Rasmussen died on the 24 of August 1993, at the age of 84.