Paxton Access Founder Tony Ratcliffe to Retire
Ratcliffe will hand his role of Paxton group chairman off to his son, Sholto. The company will continue to be led by CEO Adam Stroud.
(l-r) Tony Ratcliffe, Adam Stroud and Sholto Ratcliffe stand in front of the Paxton Technology Centre.
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Paxton Access announces Group Chairman Tony Ratcliffe is stepping down, 38 years after founding the company. His son, Sholto Ratcliffe, will assume the role.
Ratcliffe, 73, is a British inventor and entrepreneur. His retirement comes after nearly four decades overseeing Paxton’s growth from a small enterprise launching the TOUCHLOCK keypad in 1985, to a multi-million-dollar international business that now exports to over 60 countries worldwide and secures over 30,000 buildings annually.
“With Paxton, I have achieved more than I ever thought I could. This is simply because of the challenges and the learning I have gone through, says Ratcliffe. “I hope that every employee can do what I have done and follow that path, which is to be challenged, to learn, and to get there in the end. The future for Paxton is so exciting, and with the new generation of people coming through, I think there are no limits for the company.”
The company will continue to be led by Paxton’s CEO Adam Stroud, who has been with the manufacturer for over 25 years. Sholto has been working alongside his father and Stroud for the past nine years in preparation for this transition. In addition to his role as non-executive group chairman of Paxton, Sholto runs his own recording studio in London, where he balances both the technical and business aspect of the studio, according to the company.
“Sometimes when the founder of a successful company retires, its future becomes uncertain. It may be sold, restructured, or passed to multiple factions of shareholders. My job is to remove that uncertainty in the transition between generations and beyond, allowing the Paxton team to work safely in the knowledge that the company is not going to disappear,” says Sholto.
Over the last 12-months, Paxton says it has beaten all previous production records in its manufacturing facility based in Eastbourne, Sussex. This is due to a rise in customer demand and significant investment into new solutions which are developed at the Paxton Technology Centre.
The Paxton Technology Centre is based next to its UK head offices, in Brighton Sussex. Paxton’s Brighton campus is currently going through an expansion as the company is refurbishing another building that it has recently acquired, the Paxton Electronics Centre.
The new building has been acquired to accommodate an additional electronics manufacturing facility so Paxton can meet its expected growth over the next decade, according to the company.
“The plans that we have for the Brighton campus are going to provide us with a world-class facility, and there will be much more beyond that. Paxton has a bright future and we are well positioned in a rapidly growing industry,” says Sholto.
Stroud adds, “We work hard to create a world-class infrastructure, providing our teams with all they need to do the best work of their lives. There are many aspects to being a fantastic employer, and the expansion of our technology park takes us in the right direction.”
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