CLEVELAND — An Ohio-born company that prides itself on helping those who help others, is now getting some help of its own.

What You Need To Know

  • Team Wendy was found in 1997 

  • The company makes protective helmets for law enforcement, the military and search and rescue teams

  • It will be expanding their operations in Cleveland, creating 200 more jobs

Team Wendy just got approval from the governor’s office to expand its operation here in the Buckeye State, which will not only add jobs, but could also save more lives.

For more than a quarter century, Team Wendy has been providing protective helmets to members of law enforcement, the military and search and rescue teams.

“It’s a really easy mission to get behind and it’s something that we really emphasize,” said Amy Carpenter, vice president of operations at Team Wendy.

The company is named after its founder’s daughter, Wendy, who died from a traumatic brain injury she suffered from a skiing accident.

Following her death, her father wanted to find a way to help others stay safe in dangerous situations.

“It’s all about making life-saving products and head protection primarily,” said Ron Szalkowski, vice president of Engineering and TBI Mitigation at Team Wendy.

Ron Szalkowski designs the helmets at Team Wendy. 

“Inside the helmet is a foam layer that effectively acts like a crumple zone in a car so when an impact occurs it puts the brakes on your head so that you don’t have too much force transmitted too quickly that could cause an injury,” Szalkowski said.

The company started in Cleveland in the late 1990s and since then has expanded to locations across the country.

Now it’s about to add $15 million of payroll here in Ohio.

“Which will of course create opportunities for as many as 200 jobs over the next two to three years and really keeping things here in Cleveland which has been our home for more than 20 years,” Carpenter said.

She and Szalkowski take pride in knowing that they’ll now be able to make even more helmets for first responders, military personnel and others who risk their lives. 

“We get stories that come in from people who have been wearing our helmets. We just had one last week, someone was wearing our search and rescue helmet, this kind of yellow one right here, that was thrown while wearing the helmet and had a bad impact they were told they probably would have not survived if they were not wearing the helmet in this case,” Szalkowski said.