J. Clayton Miller, Q Security, NL Lock
James Clayton “Clay” Miller, born in 1945, shares his father Harry’s adventurous and industrious spirit. True to his roots, Clay’s life has been marked by an incredible work ethic, visionary mindset, and ability to “make it happen.” Holding over 50 patents, Clay has made countless contributions to the lock and security industry.
A self-proclaimed wild child, Miller left high school his junior year and began working under his father at Sargent & Greenleaf. Initially, he worked in maintenance repairing machines before moving on to various departments, including the engineering department. He jokes, “They moved me around a lot because I was a pain the ass. I don’t think they knew where to put me.”
Eventually, Miller began working with Jim Taylor, a close colleague of Harry’s. Jim was married to Clay’s aunt Alice, and Miller became his protégé or ‑‑ as Miller recalls it -- Jim’s gopher. Miller began in domestic sales, and as his skill set grew, he moved into international sales. When the decision was made to move the plant from Rochester, New York, to Nicholasville, Kentucky, Taylor moved south to oversee the building of the plant. Miller remained in New York running the sales department and organizing the move.
The Miller family, moved to Kentucky in 1974. The plant move proved to be tumultuous for Sargent & Greenleaf and their employees, and Taylor left the company soon after. Harry drafted Clay to fill Jim’s shoes and promoted him to General Manager. When Harry stepped down and moved into a Chairman of the Board role, Clay became the President of Sargent & Greenleaf at the young age of 31.
Within a few years of becoming president, it became apparent that the best course of action for Clay, his brother Benson, and their father was to sell Sargent & Greenleaf. After the sale, Clay continued to work there, but soon dreaded waking up and going to work under the new ownership. He knew he had to make a change.
Seeing a potential opportunity in Lockmasters, Clay approached Harry with an offer to purchase it. A deal was struck, and in September 1981, Clay resigned from Sargent & Greenleaf and moved to Florida, where Lockmasters was located. At age 36, he felt he had reached the pinnacle of his career. His joy was short-lived, as he soon realized that running a small business with six employees and $219,000 in annual sales was a significant departure from managing a $14 million multinational company. Nevertheless, Clay regards it as one of the best decisions in his life because of the opportunity for personal growth it provided him.
Eventually, Clay moved Lockmasters from Florida to Kentucky where he and Wes Day continued growing the company. In keeping with family tradition, Clay also brought his son, Mark, into the business.
In the intervening years, Clay met and married locksmith April Truitt. Together, they founded the Safe & Vault Technicians Association (SAVTA) and the non-profit Primate Rescue Center - which is still going strong, caring for nearly 50 monkeys and apes rescued from biomedical research, entertainment and the pet trade.
Throughout his tenure with Lockmasters, Clay developed multiple divisions, including Education, Wholesale Tools & Equipment, and Research & Development. In 2005, Mark purchased the Tool and Equipment division, with Clay retaining the Education and R & D divisions. Several years later, after selling the other Lockmasters divisions to Mark, Clay established Lockmasters Technologies, Inc., to focus specifically on government training and lock development. Meanwhile, just up the road, Mark continued to grow Lockmasters, moving into high security doors and builder’s hardware.
Sadly, and as most in the industry are aware, Mark passed away in September of 2020.
In 2023, Clay embarked on a new journey. He learned that his good friend and fellow inventor Nick Gartner was battling cancer. Nick had founded NL Lock two decades earlier and knew he needed to find it a good home. The two began discussions in early 2023 regarding the future of the company. In late August, they inked a deal to transfer the company assets to QSecurity Industries. Secure in the knowledge that his brainchild had a promising future with an industry veteran who would take his innovations forward, Nick breathed his last in early September of 2023.
Clay continues to contribute to the industry. Like his predecessors, he will leave a legacy to be admired – one characterized by intense drive, ingenuity, spirit and generosity.
