Behind the Screens: Conversations with Background Screening Pros hosted by Les Rosen

Les Rosen
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"Behind the Screens" is a podcast that brings you up close and personal with the people in the background screening industry. Hosted by Les Rosen, each episode features in-depth, human-interest interviews with a diverse range of guests—including business executives, employees with extensive screening experience, vendors who serve the industry, and legal and compliance experts. These conversations dive into the personal stories and insights of those who know the industry best, offering a fresh perspective on the people driving background screening. Whether you are part of the industry or just curious, "Behind the Screens" delivers authentic, non-marketing-focused stories from the world of background checks.Your host:  Les Rosen is an Attorney, former owner of a screening firm, the chair of the steering committee that founded PBSA and the first co-chair of PBSA, as well as author of the "Safe Hiring Manual," and frequent presenter nationwide. According to attorney and industry veteran  Vince Pascarella, "For those of you who don't know, Les Rosen was the chief architect of the PBSA predecessor NAPBS, and its first Chair and unofficial Executive Director. Simply put, no Les Rosen then, no PBSA today."For more information, see:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/ CONTACT US!Send comments, feedback,  suggestions for future guests or sponsorship information to:screeningpros200@gmail.comPlatinum Sponsor:  https://preemploymentdirectory.com/ , publisher of the Background Buzz!  

  1. Sep 21 ·  Video

    Episode 75: Be Kind, Stay Curious, and Never Stop Growing: Bon Idziak's 28 Years of Hard-Won Lessons in Background Screening

    Send us Fan Mail Bon Idziak has 28 years in the background screening industry spanning CIC, First Advantage, Applicant Insight, Checkr, and Accurate Background. He served five years as chair of PBSA's Government Relations Committee, sat on the PBSA Board of Directors, and has represented the industry in meetings with the Department of Justice, the FTC, the CFPB, the EEOC, and federal and state lawmakers. He recently launched Symphonix, a global screening enablement software platform, and also operates a background screening company in Australia covering ACIC and AFP police checks. If you want to know what 28 years of real experience in background screening actually looks like, this episode is the answer. Bon Idziak has done it all, and he is just getting started. Bon started at CIC when Bruce Berg talked him out of quitting six months in, ran Applicant Insight for 12 years, helped build Checkr from employee number five, spent six years in compliance and global expansion at Accurate Background, moved into wholesale, and is now launching Symphonix, a platform built to solve the global screening gap that has existed in this industry for years. Along the way he chaired government relations for PBSA, sat on the board, and built a career defined by the same three things: passion, kindness, and an almost pathological need for the next challenge. Pro Conversation You Don't Want to Miss! The call from Bruce Berg six months into Bon's first screening job that changed everything, and why he has never forgotten the promise Bruce made him: give me a year and you will have an amazing career in background screeningWhat Bon learned at Checkr from employee number five about the difference between traditional screening and high-tech iterative models, and why reducing friction without compromising compliance is still the central tension in the gig economyThe early career lesson that took years to really land: passion is great, but kindness, generosity, and giving others a soft place to land matters more than intensityWhy Bon says it is always okay to be wrong, as long as you admit it and fix it, and how that principle has shaped how he leads every team he has ever builtSymphonix: the new platform launching at PBSA Arlington that connects CRAs to global vendors agnostic to both, and why Bon believes it closes a gap that has existed in this industry for too long Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a conversation. Thanks to our sponsor, PreemploymentDirectory.com, publisher of Background Buzz and numerous other resources. And a special thanks to W. Barry Nixon. Connect with US: Les Rosen- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/Subscribe to our YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/@BehindtheSCreens200

    Episode 75: Be Kind, Stay Curious, and Never Stop Growing: Bon Idziak's 28 Years of Hard-Won Lessons in Background Screening

  2. Sep 8 ·  Video

    Episode 74: Kevin Bachman on What 25 Years in Background Screening Actually Teaches You

    Send us Fan Mail If you are in a decision-making role in this industry and you are waiting for a law, a court case, or a webinar to tell you what to do next, Kevin Bachman has a message for you: nobody is coming to save you. Kevin has been in background screening for 25 years, starting in radio and television news before falling into the industry while finishing a master's degree. He has seen it from inside a growing CRA, through a Sterling acquisition, and out the other side as a consultant who now helps companies ranging from scrappy startups to private equity firms figure out what it actually takes to build and run a screening business. What he has learned along the way is not theoretical. It is the kind of hard-won knowledge that only comes from being in the room when things go right and when they do not. Pro Conversation You Don't Want to Miss! Why ethics and moral fiber are not soft skills in background screening, and the Warren Buffett principle Kevin has carried since week two of his career: it takes a lifetime to build a reputation and a minute to destroy oneThe $5 to $10 million revenue zone where founders often become the ceiling of their own company, and what it actually takes to break through itWhy background screening is not a commodity, and how two completely opposite business philosophies can both win if you know which one you are and commit to itA decade on the PBSA Background Screening Credentialing Council and what watching three waves of industry leadership looks like from the insideThe message every decision-maker in this industry needs to hear: nobody is coming to save you. No regulation, no court case, no webinar will give you permission. You have to make the call. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a conversation. Thanks to our sponsor, PreemploymentDirectory.com, publisher of Background Buzz and numerous other resources. And a special thanks to W. Barry Nixon.Connect with US: Les Rosen- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/Subscribe to our YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/@BehindtheSCreens200

    Episode 74: Kevin Bachman on What 25 Years in Background Screening Actually Teaches You

  3. Aug 24 ·  Video

    Episode 73: How David Robillard Brought Real Background Screening Standards to Latin America and What It Took to Make It Stick

    Send us Fan Mail David Robillard is the co-founder of MultiLatin, the firm widely credited with bringing professional background screening standards to Mexico, Central America, and South America. After MultiLatin was acquired by First Advantage in 2021, David stayed through the Sterling integration before stepping back to focus on board advisory work. He currently serves on boards across background screening technology, compliance software, a 140-year-old teaching hospital in Mexico City, and Education for Sharing, an NGO operating across six countries. If you've ever wondered who brought real background screening standards to Latin America, this episode is for you. David's path to founding MultiLatin is one of the most unexpected origin stories I've heard on this podcast. It started in Ghana, wound through Cuba, Ottawa, and Mexico City, and took a literal detour when a running accident forced him to pivot from investigations into background screening. What followed was more than a decade of building something that did not exist before, applying real standards to a region where a background check used to mean someone counting your light bulbs and interviewing your neighbors. He built MultiLatin, survived COVID, sold to First Advantage, and never once stopped being curious about what comes next. Pro Conversation You Don't Want to Miss! How David went from a sociology degree and a deep-end internship in Ghana to pioneering background screening across an entire continentThe running accident that broke his hip and accidentally redirected his entire career toward background screeningWhat background checks in Latin America actually looked like before MultiLatin, and why David credits PBSA for helping him apply real standards to the regionHis biggest career lesson: shut up and listen until you really understand what you're looking at, because most decisions go wrong when people leap to conclusions before they understand the problemWhy David says comfort is the enemy, and what it looks like to deliberately break what is working so you don't atrophySubscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a conversation. Thanks to our sponsor, PreemploymentDirectory.com, publisher of Background Buzz and numerous other resources. And a special thanks to W. Barry Nixon. Connect with US: Les Rosen- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/Subscribe to our YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/@BehindtheSCreens200

    Episode 73: How David Robillard Brought Real Background Screening Standards to Latin America and What It Took to Make It Stick

  4. Aug 10 ·  Video

    Episode 72: Vivek Khanna on Building Neeyamo Into a Global Screening Powerhouse & Why the Cost of Saying No Is Always Too High

    Send us Fan Mail I have known Vivek Khanna for years. I see him at every PBSA conference, and I always wondered how someone becomes the person who figured out international background screening before most of the industry even knew it needed figuring out.  This conversation gave me the full picture, and it was even more interesting than I expected. Who is Vivek Khanna Vivek Khanna is the co-founder of Neeyamo, a global HR services company covering background screening in over 200 countries with in-house operations in more than 80 of them.  He also founded ScreenXchange, a technology platform built for background screening companies outside the US that embeds an AI agent called Agent Sam for verification workflows.  Vivek served as chair of the PBSA Global Advisory Council and helped initiate the international accreditation standards that now cover companies worldwide. Vivek started as a chartered accountant in India, ran his family's manufacturing business, caught the internet bug in 1998, landed in the US just as the dot-com bubble burst, and stumbled into background screening through a LexisNexis contract that showed him a broken global process and a massive opportunity.  He built Neeyamo into one of the most recognized names in international screening, initiated the PBSA international accreditation standards, and somewhere along the way also became a music producer releasing Hindi ghazal albums on Spotify using AI. Pro Conversation You Don't Want to Miss! How Vivek turned international background screening from a pass-through cost CRAs barely broke even on into a high-margin revenue line, sometimes at a ratio of fifteen dollars cost to seventy-five dollars billedThe core value that drives everything at Neeyamo: customer centricity, and why the cost of saying no to a customer is always higher than the cost of saying yesHis take on the organizational triangle turning into a diamond, and why the future belongs to people who adopt AI tools and move up to the middle management layer rather than fight the shiftHow Vivek helped kick off the PBSA international accreditation standards, a process that took five years and now covers companies across the globeThe fun fact that genuinely surprised me: in the last two months, using AI tools, he wrote Hindi ghazal poetry, converted it into fully produced songs with music, and released three albums on Apple Music and Spotify under the name Bedar LakhnawiSubscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a conversation. Thanks to our sponsor, PreemploymentDirectory.com, publisher of Background Buzz and numerous other resources. And a special thanks to W. Barry Nixon. Connect with US: Les Rosen- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/Subscribe to our YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/@BehindtheSCreens200

    Episode 72: Vivek Khanna on Building Neeyamo Into a Global Screening Powerhouse & Why the Cost of Saying No Is Always Too High

  5. Aug 1 ·  Video

    Episode 64: The Queen of Screen: Tammy Cohen on Building Infomart, PBSA, and 35 Years in Background Screening

    Send us Fan Mail Tammy Cohen is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Infomart and one of the most celebrated names in background screening.  Known across the industry as the Queen of Screen, Tammy has spent over 35 years shaping how screening companies are built, led, and run. In this episode, Les sits down with Tammy for a conversation that is part origin story, part industry history, and completely entertaining.  From quitting her job over a Glock handgun to writing one of the first checks to fund NAPBS, Tammy shares the real story behind Infomart, the lessons, the people, and the philosophy that has kept her going for decades. Pro Conversation You don't want to miss! Being invited to the founding table of NAPBS was a defining moment for Tammy. Validation from industry peers early on can shape your entire career trajectory.Go to every single booth at PBSA. You leave with industry knowledge and a new friend every time.Rub it and run. When problems hit, deal with it and keep moving. Dwelling on setbacks will not get you down the road.You do not have to know how to run a business before starting one, but you must learn fast. The operation side alone will not sustain a company.Building experts within your team is its own form of legacy. Infomart's average team tenure is 10 years, and that depth of experience is a real competitive advantage.Subscribe on Spotify or wherever you listen, and follow us on YouTube. Thanks to our sponsor, PreemploymentDirectory.com, publisher of Background Buzz and numerous other resources. And a special thanks to W. Barry Nixon. Connect with US: Les Rosen- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/Subscribe to our YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/@BehindtheSCreens200

    Episode 64: The Queen of Screen: Tammy Cohen on Building Infomart, PBSA, and 35 Years in Background Screening

  6. Aug 1 ·  Video

    Episode 63: Patti McGowan on Mentorship, Culture, and the Evolution of Background Screening

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Patti walks me through her entrepreneurial journey, starting from a typing service with an IBM Selectric III at age 21 to building a successful background screening company, SPI (Select Personnel International).  We dive into the early days of background investigations back in 1984 and how she transitioned from domestic PI cases to corporate screening. But what really impressed me throughout our conversation was her unique approach to leadership and team building. Patti reveals why she prioritizes hiring college students, why meeting people where they are matters, and how treating your staff like family leads to decades of loyalty.  She's got employees who've been with her for 10, 15, and even 20+ years—that says something special about a business. Whether you work in the screening industry or are just curious, stick around for authentic, unfiltered stories you won't hear anywhere else. This is what Behind the Screens is all about. Key Takeaways: The Origin Story: How Patti turned a $300 investment in a typewriter into a thriving business with 21 employees.Industry Evolution: The transition from manual background checks in the 1980s to modern screening practices.Building Loyalty: Why Patti’s staff stays with her for 10, 15, and even 20+ years.Mentorship Matters: The value of hiring college students and high school interns to bring fresh energy into the workplace.Workplace Culture: How rewarding employees with company cars, vacations, and a supportive environment drives success.Did you enjoy my conversation with Patti? Subscribe on Spotify or wherever you listen, and follow us on YouTube. Thanks to our sponsor, PreemploymentDirectory.com, publisher of Background Buzz and numerous other resources. And a special thanks to W. Barry Nixon. Connect with US: Les Rosen- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/Subscribe to our YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/@BehindtheSCreens200

    Episode 63: Patti McGowan on Mentorship, Culture, and the Evolution of Background Screening

  7. Jul 27 ·  Video

    Episode 71: Geoff Lee on 30 Years in Screening, and Why He Flies Terminally Ill Strangers to France Every Year

    Send us Fan Mail I told our listeners before we started recording that this particular guest could go three or four hours, and I meant it. Geoff Lee is one of the most extraordinary people I have met in this industry, and the screening career is honestly just the beginning of the story. Geoff started as a military intelligence officer, a juvenile probation counselor, a law enforcement officer, and an insurance fraud investigator before stumbling onto consumer data at CDB Infotech in the early nineties and never looking back. In this episode, we cover the career, the compliance lessons, the FCRA case he argued and won in a Texas justice of the peace trailer, and then we get into the part of his life that genuinely blew me away. Every year, Geoff personally organizes and funds a trip to Lourdes, France for people with terminal and life-limiting illnesses through the Order of Malta. He re-enlisted in the Army at his mid-fifties to help returning soldiers. And he sits with formerly incarcerated people to walk them through their second chance options. Pro Conversation You Don't Want to Miss! The compliance lesson Geoff lives by after 30 years: fast and cheap gets you in court. Speed with accuracy is the only way to do it rightHow he argued and won the first FCRA federal preemption case in Texas in a justice of the peace trailer, not as a lawyer, and what it means for how state and federal law interact in background screeningThe Order of Malta and what it actually looks like to charter a plane, coordinate medical staff, and personally care for 45 people with life-ending illnesses for eight days in southern FranceThe moment that wrecked everyone at the dinner table: a late-30s mother with stage four cancer got up and said she had a miracle, and the miracle was calling her daughters to tell them she was okay to dieWhy Geoff re-enlisted with the Army Chaplain Corps in his mid-fifties to do death notifications and suicide intervention for returning soldiers, on his own time and at his own expenseSubscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss a conversation. Thanks to our sponsor, PreemploymentDirectory.com, publisher of Background Buzz and numerous other resources. And a special thanks to W. Barry Nixon. Connect with US: Les Rosen- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/Subscribe to our YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/@BehindtheSCreens200

    Episode 71: Geoff Lee on 30 Years in Screening, and Why He Flies Terminally Ill Strangers to France Every Year

  8. Jul 22 ·  Video

    Episode 65: Todd Higey on FCRA Compliance, and Building a Background Screening Law Practice

    Send us Fan Mail Todd Higey is a background screening attorney based in Birmingham, Alabama with 28 years of legal experience.  After a decade and a half of litigation work and nearly a decade as in-house counsel for ESS and Global HR Research, he now runs his own solo law practice serving CRAs, wholesalers, and data brokers across the country.  In this episode, Les sits down with Todd for a conversation that covers the full arc of a legal career built on background screening.  From the day a class action lawsuit landed on his desk and he walked it right back out the door, to the data-driven compliance strategy he has spent years building and sharing at PBSA, Todd brings the kind of hard-won perspective you only get from someone who has actually done the work.  Pro Conversation You don't want to miss! - Good compliance work often feels like proving a negative. You set up the infrastructure, the procedures, the forms and you never really know if it holds until the day it gets tested. - Tracking FCRA lawsuits filed in federal court year over year is one of the smartest things an in-house lawyer can do. Data tells you what the plaintiff's bar is focused on. Anecdotes do not. - Transparency with clients is not just good practice. It prevents the hard conversations later. If a client buys the more economical package, make sure they know exactly what that means before anything goes wrong. - Before you hire a lawyer for your new screening company, hire someone who has actually worked the queue. Operations experience is the foundation everything else is built on. - Get involved in PBSA government relations. The legislation being worked on right now affects every company in this space, and the people doing that work need support.  Subscribe on Spotify or wherever you listen, and follow us on YouTube. Thanks to our sponsor, PreemploymentDirectory.com, publisher of Background Buzz and numerous other resources. And a special thanks to W. Barry Nixon. Connect with US: Les Rosen- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/Subscribe to our YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/@BehindtheSCreens200

    Episode 65: Todd Higey on FCRA Compliance, and Building a Background Screening Law Practice
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About

"Behind the Screens" is a podcast that brings you up close and personal with the people in the background screening industry. Hosted by Les Rosen, each episode features in-depth, human-interest interviews with a diverse range of guests—including business executives, employees with extensive screening experience, vendors who serve the industry, and legal and compliance experts. These conversations dive into the personal stories and insights of those who know the industry best, offering a fresh perspective on the people driving background screening. Whether you are part of the industry or just curious, "Behind the Screens" delivers authentic, non-marketing-focused stories from the world of background checks.Your host:  Les Rosen is an Attorney, former owner of a screening firm, the chair of the steering committee that founded PBSA and the first co-chair of PBSA, as well as author of the "Safe Hiring Manual," and frequent presenter nationwide. According to attorney and industry veteran  Vince Pascarella, "For those of you who don't know, Les Rosen was the chief architect of the PBSA predecessor NAPBS, and its first Chair and unofficial Executive Director. Simply put, no Les Rosen then, no PBSA today."For more information, see:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/ CONTACT US!Send comments, feedback,  suggestions for future guests or sponsorship information to:screeningpros200@gmail.comPlatinum Sponsor:  https://preemploymentdirectory.com/ , publisher of the Background Buzz!  

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