Intellicheck-Mobilisa co-founders Nelson Ludlow and Bonnie Ludlow are retiring this month from the global wireless security system company they founded. The company headquarters and more than two dozen employees are to remain in Jefferson County.

Bill Roof, currently serving as chief operating officer of Mobilisa, assumes leadership as president and CEO starting Oct. 1. Roof lives in Sequim.

Nelson Ludlow, who recruited Roof to the company and had worked with him in the past, told investors in a teleconference Tuesday morning, Sept. 24, that Roof has the background to lead Mobilisa to “future growth and expansion.”

Ludlow likened the transition to that of the military where a change in leadership of command happens every two or three years and he assured investors that the company's future is bright and he will remain involved.

“We have our life savings invested in our company. Our intentions and our interests are aligned with the investors. This transition is a good thing,” Nelson Ludlow told investors Tuesday, speaking of himself and his former wife, Bonnie.

The Ludlows founded Mobilisa in March 2001. Nelson Ludlow stepped aside as president and CEO to serve as chairman of the board from April 2011 to November 2012, after which he resumed the position of president and CEO.

“When I returned as CEO in late 2012, I promised the board I would work hard for two years to help turn our company around. I believe I have done that. We have added nearly a dozen new products, most notably using our technology on cell phones,” he told the board in his second, most recent resignation.

Bonnie Ludlow has been senior vice president. During the investor teleconference Sept. 23, Nelson Ludlow thanked her for her time and commitment to the company over the years, noting there was a time she did not take a salary.

Earlier this year Mobilisa raised about $6 million from investors to grow its sales and marketing team. Ludlow said that that investment has shown results with “the largest new bookings in nearly three years.”

Heather Flanagan, director of marketing, said Tuesday that both Bonnie and Nelson, who own the building at 191 Otto St. just outside Port Townsend where Mobilisa is headquartered, are still majority investors. The company also has about a dozen employees based in New York.

“They'll still have a hand in it. It's their baby and they care about the community and the employees here. It's less like quitting and job and more like sending your kids off to college,” Flanagan said of the Ludlows off seeking other adventures.

After introducing Roof to investors via teleconference, Roof and Nelson Ludlow fielded a handful of questions.

One investor expressed concern about Nelson Ludlow leaving. Ludlow responded by saying, “The company has me under contract to stay and help and I will help them overall.”

Ludlow also acknowledged later in the teleconference that a buoy program had been put on hold while Mobilisa concentrates on its identity services technology, in particular a fugitive finder app as well as a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) technology.

Mobilisa announced that a new oil refinery in California has signed on to use the TWIC system. One investor complained there wasn't enough detail in a press release to know whether it was giving the company any value.

Ludlow acknowledged that Mobilisa works with agencies that often do not want to announce the system they are buying.

“I put the sale first and if making the sale means I can't put out the dollar amount, I don't,” Nelson Ludlow told the investor. He also said the company was working to provide investors with more information and has been putting out more press releases in response.

As for their future, Nelson Ludlow, a U.S. Navy veteran who holds a doctorate in artificial intelligence, plans to do work in neuroscience, likely a combination of academia, research and/or working on a new startup company in that field.

Bonnie Ludlow, an avid horsewoman, is joining a group of women friends who are starting a horse rehabilitation effort in Port Ludlow, Flanagan said.