Paxton founder Tony Ratcliffe retires

GREENVILLE, S.C.—Tony Ratcliffe, Founder and Group Chairman of security technology manufacturer Paxton Access Ltd., announced he is stepping down after 38 years. His son Sholto will take on the role of Group Chairman.

Ratcliffe, 73, is a British inventor and successful entrepreneur. Nearly four decades ago, he oversaw the company’s growth from a small enterprise launching the humble 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,” Ratcliffe said. “This is simply because of the challenges and the learning I have gone through. 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.

“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,” Sholto Ratcliffe explained. “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.”

“One of the major benefits of having secure, uncomplicated company ownership is that we are always able to focus on making decisions for the best long-term outcome,” Stroud noted.

“This means we can focus on the important things, like making world-class products,” Sholto added.