45 Years of IRIS: Built on People, Relationships, and Customer Service

In 1981, The IRIS Companies began with a simple idea: provide quality identification products while taking care of the people who rely on them.

Forty-five years later, that commitment remains at the heart of who we are.

From our beginnings in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, to the wide range of identification, access control, credentialing, and security solutions we provide today, IRIS has grown with the industry. While our products and technology have evolved, one thing has stayed consistent: our culture and commitment to our customers.

As we celebrate 45 years, we wanted to hear from the employees who have helped make that journey possible.

45 Years of Putting Customers First

Customer service has always been more than a department or phrase at IRIS. It is part of how we approach our work every day.

Michelle Clinton, who has been with IRIS for 30 years, summed it up simply: “We have the best customer service in the industry.” She described that service as prioritizing customer needs, going the extra mile, and providing prompt responses.

For Wendy Bradley, who has been part of the IRIS team for 19 years, customer service means “assisting as many customers as possible as quickly as possible,” while also making things right when something goes wrong and building strong relationships.

The focus on relationships is a common thread throughout the company. Our customers are not simply orders or account numbers. They are long-term partners, and their needs continue to shape how we grow and what we offer.

Read More About Our 45-Year Journey

Our 45th anniversary was recently featured by the Reading Eagle, highlighting IRIS and the customer relationships that have helped shape our company over the past four and a half decades.

Read more about The IRIS Companies in the Reading Eagle →

A Company That Feels Like Family

Ask our employees what makes IRIS special, and one word comes up again and again: family.

Bill, who is approaching 26 years with IRIS, described the company as having a “family feel” and a laid-back atmosphere balanced by a strong concern for quality.

Becky, who joined IRIS in 2009 after discovering the company at a job fair, said she continues to value the “family atmosphere and the people that make up the IRIS family.”

And for Leslie, who has been with IRIS for nearly three years, that feeling is especially personal: “I feel like family and not a number.”

That sense of belonging extends across generations of employees. Some have spent decades here, while others are just beginning their IRIS careers. What connects them is a shared willingness to help, learn, solve problems, and contribute to something bigger than their individual roles.

Making Things Happen Together

At IRIS, great customer service is a team effort.

An order might move through sales, graphics, customer service, production, and shipping before it reaches the customer. Each person plays a role, and employees repeatedly described the same thing: when something needs to get done, people step in and help.

Becky described it this way: “Things just don't happen ... we ‘make it happen’ as a team!”

Wendy shared a similar perspective, noting that whenever the company is in a bind, “the team pulls together and makes things happen to fulfill orders.”

That willingness to pitch in is part of what has allowed IRIS to serve customers for 45 years. It is also part of what makes a small, family-owned company capable of taking on big challenges.

From Polaroid Pictures to Mobile Credentials

While our culture has remained consistent, our products and capabilities certainly have not.

Katie Gehris, who officially joined IRIS full-time in 2023 after spending summers at the company as a teenager, reflected on that evolution.

“We have evolved with the times by adding to our product line to reflect the latest advancements in the ID & access control community,” she said. “IRIS started with laminating Polaroid pictures onto PVC cards. Now we offer mobile credentials!”

That evolution is important not only to our longevity, but to our customers. As identification and access control technology changes, we continue looking for ways to provide the products and solutions organizations need today while preparing for what comes next.

Looking Ahead to the Next 45 Years

Celebrating 45 years gives us an opportunity to look back, but it also gives us plenty of reasons to look ahead.

We are proud of where IRIS began, proud of how far we have come, and excited about what is next.

Our employees have seen tremendous changes in technology, products, and the way we do business. Yet the fundamentals remain the same: work hard, take care of our customers, support one another, and always look for ways to do better.

As Katie put it, “Evolving is not only integral to longevity, but also important to providing our customers with the latest products.”

After 45 years, we know that the future will bring new technologies, new challenges, and new opportunities.

Thank you to our employees, customers, partners, and community for being part of the IRIS story. Here's to 45 years, and to everything still ahead.