Wendy Katzman

“She’s small, but she packs a big wallop.” So began the first newspaper article featuring Wendy’s youth tennis career. She was 10 and tiny, though she assumed she would someday be tall. She also thought she’d win Wimbledon. While Wendy did go on to play Division I college tennis at the University of Michigan, she remained petite. And the closest she got to Wimbledon was taking a tour with her son several years ago, a son who followed in his mom’s footsteps as a tennis player, thus forcing Wendy into the role of tennis mom, to her own mom’s karmic delight.

​​In between stints as tennis player and tennis mom, Wendy had a career marketing medical technologies. She eventually col-led the Philips Healthcare’s HeartStart Home Defibrillator business, which ultimately made it possible for you to buy a home defibrillator without a prescription.

Wendy grew up in Ann Arbor, MI, and headed to Chicago the week after she graduated from college. She and her husband, Van, picked Seattle for a two-year adventure on the West Coast, but they loved it so much it’s been 26 years and counting. Their oldest, Jack, is playing college tennis, while their youngest, Carly, is in middle school. Yes, they’re 8 years apart. No, they didn’t plan it like that. It just took awhile. Wendy is the ultimate planner, but there are just some things in life you just can’t control. She wouldn’t have it any other way.