BRATTLEBORO >> The workers who made R.O.V. Technologies, Inc. possible since 1990 were officially welcomed into the Rolls-Royce family on Monday.
Jack Judge, the president and CEO of R.O.V., sold his business to Rolls-Royce in late March, six months after and he and wife Melanie Boese purchased the Brattleboro Country Club to fulfill a lifelong dream. Representatives from Rolls-Royce were present on June 1 to commemorate the acquisition. John A. Stringer, the president of Rolls-Royce’s nuclear services, said this move fits in nicely with his employer’s overall goals.
“It’s a great privilege for Rolls-Royce to take over the heritage of this company and to continue it on as I promised the former owner, Jack Judge,” Stringer told a crowd inside the roughly 60,000-square-foot Bennett Drive facility Judge obtained for his business in 2005. “We truly appreciate the warm welcome Brattleboro has given to us.”
According to Joel P. Reuter, the vice president of communications and marketing services at Rolls-Royce North America, R.O.V. Technologies “designs, builds and deploys remotely operated, radiation-tolerant underwater camera and inspection systems used to monitor various activities during nuclear power plant scheduled refueling outages to ensure activities are being done correctly and safely according to stringent procedures.” Judge previously told the Reformer that Rolls-Royce approached him regarding acquisition and the company will remain based out of its building on Bennett Drive. Patricia Moulton, the secretary of the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, told Stringer and the other Rolls-Royce employees in attendance she was delighted to learn Roll-Royce is keeping the business in Brattleboro.
“We want to be your partner,” she said to Stringer, adding that the two businesses will make for “a really great marriage.”
Stringer and Elwell unveiled a plaque commemorating R.O.V. Technologies’ integration into Rolls-Royce’s nuclear business. Stringer explained Rolls-Royce, founded in England more than 100 years ago, stopped manufacturing automobiles in the 1970s and licenses the name and logo to BMW on a yearly basis. He said the international company now does a lot of work for the militaries of the United Kingdom and the United States.
Brattleboro Town Manager Peter Elwell and Assistant Town Manager Patrick Moreland were present. Elwell told the Reformer it is satisfying to know the company and its workers are staying put.
“It’s very exciting to see something grown here — in a very high-level, complicated field — stay here to take it to the next level,” he said.
Stringer mentioned Rolls-Royce has nearly 54,000 employees around the world and 3,900 in the nuclear business.
After the ceremony, anyone interested was given a tour of a section of the facility.
Judge was not seen at Monday’s ceremony but released a statement through Roll-Royce when the acquisition was finalized in March.
“We are proud to become a part of Rolls-Royce and I have every confidence we will continue to build upon our excellent reputation in the U.S. nuclear industry,” he said.