Benjamin heads Mace security

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--While Mace Security International searches for a new chief executive, they’ve already found their man to run the security division: Devin Benjamin, former head of Securetek, the surveillance manufacturer Mace purchased in late 2005. Benjamin, who’ll serve as president of the security division, took some time off from the security industry to finish up a construction project he was involved with through another business, but “now I’m 100 percent focused on security,” he said. The time away hasn’t hurt him much, he said. “I could basically walk right back in,” he said. “There was a little bit of a learning curve, but even when I was gone from the industry, I still attended a lot of trade shows and kept my ear to the ground.” Now he’s excited to leverage the Mace brand as he looks to build the dealer base and develop and license new products. “It definitely helps open doors,” he said. “I can now talk with a CEO very quickly, where I maybe had to call 20 times to get a call back at Securetek.” Many of those calls are going out to inventors and other product developers. “From a growth perspective,” Benjamin said, “we’re looking at strategic alliances, licensing the Mace brand. If there’s someone out there with a unique product, but they don’t have the name or the business behind them, that’s something we can help with. We’ve got the infrastructure; we’ve got the dealers; we’ve got the brand; we can get it out to market.” As for supporting those dealers, Benjamin said the company will make changes to ensure there’s no channel conflict with Mace’s consumer-aimed products, and improve the Mace Web site to include downloads, quote generators and customizable peripherals. “We want to make it so the dealer is sort of married to us, to give them so many tools it’s just not worth it to them to go somewhere else.”