Sargent and Greenleaf names new COO

Sargent and Greenleaf, a STANLEY Security subsidiary and manufacturer of high security locks, recently named Keith Deaton as the company's new COO. I got the chance to talk with Deaton and hear a bit more about the role and his experience in the industry.

Deaton officially started as the COO of S&G at the end of January. “I have had extensive experience with the business through varying leadership capacities over the last several years. So, I like to say 'I'm new to the role, I'm not new to the business,'” he said, adding that the company is “executing a seamless transition in leadership.”

Deaton started in the security industry by being recruited by Ingersoll Rand, and worked with the company for about six years.

In 2010, Deaton joined Stanley Black & Decker in an operations finance role for the company's mechanical solutions, a business unit which was sold to dormakaba at the end of 2016. Deaton became the CFO of S&G in early 2017 and also served as the interim CFO for STANLEY's Canadian automatic door and electronic security business from mid-2017 to the end of the year.

The new role at S&G expands the scope of his leadership, Deaton noted. “It's really being not only involved in leading those day-to-day operations—all of the way from the front end of the business, through the manufacturing and fulfillment part of the business—it's also really working to set strategic direction for the business.”

One of the commonalities in his new position is the similar focus on innovation, Deaton said. “We're focused on innovation as an enterprise,” he said.

“S&G is about a 160-year-old business, and … it has just amazing brand equity and loyalty really across this high security space,” Deaton said. S&G serves financial, commercial, retail, residential safes and residential mechanical security markets.