JELD WEN

About JELD WEN

The story of JELD-WEN begins in 1960 in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Richard "Dick" Wendt, along with four business partners—Larry Wetter, John Biehn, Gerry Wickersham, and Bill Taylor—purchased a millwork plant at an auction. With just 15 employees, they established a company focused on producing reliable window and door products. The company's name itself is a tribute to Wendt's family: "J" for his sister Jewel, "E" for his mother Evelyn, "L" for his father Lester, and "D" for Dick, with "WEN" being a shortened version of their last name. From its bootstrapped origins, JELD-WEN grew steadily through a strategy of vertical integration and acquisitions. A key philosophy from the start was a commitment to using every bit of raw material, a principle that guided their expansion. This approach led them to open their first fiber plant in 1975 to manufacture molded door skins from wood waste. The company expanded into Europe in 1993 and by the 2000s, its products were available in major big-box home improvement stores. A pivotal moment in the company's journey came in January 2017, when JELD-WEN held its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol JELD. The IPO, priced at $23 per share, valued the company at over $2 billion and marked its transition from a long-held private entity to a publicly traded corporation. Today, JELD-WEN is a global manufacturer of windows and doors, operating facilities in North America and Europe.