Matt Barnette named president of Mercury Security

LONG BEACH, Calif.—Matthew Barnette today was named president of access control manufacturer Mercury Security.

Barnette comes to Mercury from AMAG Technologies, where he held several leadership positions since 2004, most recently as president. AMAG Technologies has not named a replacement for Barnette and declined comment when contacted by Security Systems News.

Founded in 1992, Mercury Security is the largest global provider of OEM access control panels, with an installed base of more than 3 million panels. Mercury makes controllers, readers and embedded solutions.

At Mercury, Barnette takes over for Steve Wagner, who is retiring. Barnette will report to Joe Grillo, CEO of ACRE, the holding company that owns Mercury Security and Vanderbilt Industries.

Barnette told Security Systems News that he planned to spend the month of June “going out and meeting with Mercury customers. I want to hear what people have to say about the company and products and what we can do to provide more value.”

While the Mercury name and product is well known, Mercury is not a company that is in the news often.

That is likely to change, Barnette said. Ten years ago, customers didn't want to discuss the fact that “they didn't use their own panel," Barnette said. That has changed over the past decade. “The openness of the Mercury panel is now a positive,” he said. Now Mercury customers are happy to say that “we use Mercury and it's an open platform.”

Barnette said he's eager to have Mercury executives talk more about the technology and trends at industry events.

Barnette said Mercury is poised to take advantage of the Internet of Things as a business avenue for Mercury. “We have a platform that can do much more than just open a door,” he said. The Mercury panel, he said, is “the hub.”

“As an industry veteran known for his successful track record and customer-centric approach, I am confident that Matt has the proven ability to build upon the strategic support delivered to Mercury partners and capture the increasing market demand for open and interoperable access control solutions with Authentic Mercury hardware,” Joe Grillo, CEO of ACRE, said in a prepared statement.

Grillo, a former CEO of HID and executive at Assa Abloy, founded ACRE in 2012 to invest in electronic security manufacturing companies with an emphasis on access control. ACRE acquired Vanderbilt (formerly Geoffrey Industries/Schlage SMS Access Control and Video systems division of Ingersoll Rand) in Sept. 2012. It bought Siemens Security Products business in June 2015 and folded it into the Vanderbilt business. ACRE acquired Mercury in 2013.

While at AMAG, Barnette oversaw double-digit organic growth in North America and a global rebranding process, according to the ACRE news release. Prior to AMAG Technology, Barnette worked for Andover Controls, Intellikey and Sensormatic Electronics.