April 14, 2025 • 46 mins
What does it take to lead in one of the most complex, fast-evolving, and compliance-heavy industries around—while wearing multiple hats and still managing to stay grounded? In this episode, I sit down with my longtime friend and background screening veteran, Vince Pascarella. Vince isn’t just a compliance guru—he’s worn every hat in the business, from general counsel to sales leader to the brains behind custom-built risk mitigation tools. We cover it all: his early days at HR Plus, his journey through industry-defining mergers, and the big ideas that are pushing screening forward. But we also go deeper—into fatherhood, personal reinvention, and the lasting impact of integrity. Vince’s story is equal parts insightful and inspiring, packed with moments that will make you think—and make you laugh.
He had his bar results for an hour… and a business card by lunch. Trust me, this is one you’ll want to hear from start to finish.
Pro Conversation You don’t want to miss!
- From Colored Folders to General Counsel — Vince's Entry into Screening
- Wearing Every Hat — From Sales to Compliance to Technology
- Evolving With the Industry — Leadership, Innovation & Lessons Learned
- Reputation, Family, and a Life Outside Screening
This episode is a masterclass in how to evolve, lead, and thrive in the background screening industry. Vince Pascarella’s story is a reminder that the most powerful tools in your career aren't just technical expertise—they're trust, teamwork, and relentless curiosity.
🎧 If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate, follow, and leave a review. It helps others discover the show and keeps these great stories coming. Thanks for tuning in to Behind the Screens!
Connect with US:
- Les Rosen- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/
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This podcast is sponsored by:
The Preemploymentdirectory, publisher of the Background Buzz! https://preemploymentdirectory.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
I remember when I walked into HR Plus for that
(00:01):
interview, they had coloredfiles.
like adorning the office.
Like they were all like yellow,blue, green, you know, whatever.
And I remember asking one of thefirst things I asked in the
interview was like, what's upwith the colored Manila folder?
You know, like the Manilafolders, but all different
colors.
And they're like, oh, those aredue dates.
I said, what do you mean thoseare due dates?
And like, well, we promise ourcustomers, you know, a two to
(00:22):
three day turnaround time.
And yellow means it's due onMonday.
Blue means it's due on Tuesday.
And then there were like orangefolders everywhere.
And I said, what are the orangefolders?
And they're like, oh, that'sU-Haul.
Which is like one of theirlargest customers at the time,
right?
So they have their own folders.
And I'm like, so how comethey're not, you know, by date?
(00:43):
And they're like, we get theU-Haul folders out as quickly as
we can.
SPEAKER_00 (00:46):
That's amazing.
We all have those stories fromthe early days.
We used to have files by thedate the order came in.
So Monday was blue because it'sBlue Monday.
And, you know, if a Monday fileis still sitting there
Wednesday, I mean, someonebetter pay attention to it.
That's right.
UNKNOWN (01:02):
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (01:08):
Welcome to Behind the Screens, conversations with
background screening pros.
I'm Les Rosen, your host, andI'm excited to have you here.
On this podcast, we chat withthe people who know the
background screening worldinside and out.
Executives, industry experts,legal pros, and more.
We dive into their personalstories and insights to give you
(01:28):
a real look at what's happeningbehind the scenes.
Whether you work in thescreening industry or are just
curious, Behind the screensbring you the real, unfiltered
conversations from the peoplewho make it all happen.
Stick around for stories youwon't hear anywhere else.
(01:50):
And ladies and gentlemen, LesRosen here.
Welcome to another episode ofBehind the Screens,
conversations with backgroundscreening pros, the people who
actually make it happen and thepeople in the know.
And talk about someone who's inthe know is one of my favorite
people in the screeningindustry, the gentleman who I
can best describe as a guy whohas been there and done that.
(02:14):
Mr.
Vince Pascarella has, one timeor another, has had his fingers
involved, I think, in everyaspect of the screening
industry.
He's a compliance guru, but he'sdone sales and marketing and
production and criminal records,and I'm sure he's fooled around
with technology.
And everything else there is todo is one of the star words of
(02:35):
the screening industry.
My pleasure to introduce Mr.
Vince Pascarella.
Vince, welcome.
Thanks, Les.
Happy to be here.
I've known you for years, and Ifinally had trouble with your
name, and I finally figured outPascarella.
In my brain, I finally gotthrough that, so I failed to say
Pascarella, and here we go.
(02:56):
Most
SPEAKER_03 (02:56):
phonetically perfect names are a challenge for folks.
All
SPEAKER_00 (03:01):
right.
So, Vince, for those who don'tknow you, I think everyone does,
but for those who may not, tellus about what you currently do.
So today
SPEAKER_03 (03:09):
I am Chief Legal Officer and Chief Compliance
Officer for Informedata.
Informedata has been inexistence under that brand for
about three and a half years.
We were the result of the mergerbetween Wholesale Screening
Solutions and SJV andAssociates, which happened in
late 2021.
SPEAKER_00 (03:28):
And you started off with which one of those again?
With
SPEAKER_03 (03:31):
Wholesale Screening Solutions as part of the Lowers
Risk Group.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (03:35):
And so how long have you been with Lowers Risk Group,
wholesale screening, and nowInformed Data altogether?
SPEAKER_03 (03:40):
You know, at the risk of revealing my advanced
age, about 13 years, believe itor not.
SPEAKER_00 (03:47):
Well, the fact that you can remember means your age
isn't that advanced, so that'spretty good.
I've always liked you, Mike.
So what's your current positionthere?
What are you currently doing atInformed Data?
SPEAKER_03 (04:00):
I run our internal compliance function with a small
team, and then I run ourinternal legal in general
function with a hybrid team, asmall team inside, and then I
use outside counsel for variousmatters and manage all those
relationships.
SPEAKER_00 (04:14):
I mean, considering the length and breadth of
service offerings, that'sprobably going to keep you
pretty busy.
What areas do you really focuson among others?
SPEAKER_03 (04:22):
Yeah, I mean, I joke internally that I, you know, I'm
doing three or four people'sjobs, but we have a pretty
robust compliance infrastructureinternally.
So that entails like all of ourinternal policies and
procedures, all of ourcontractual obligations to both
vendors and customers.
And then of course, consumerdisputes, everyone in this
industry's favorite topic.
So that all falls under ourcompliance function.
(04:44):
We have some overlap with ourquality department as well.
On the legal side, I doeverything from, you to, you
know, managing.
I'm not a litigator.
I don't do litigation directly,but I manage outside counsel and
do litigation support for themwhen we occasionally find
ourselves in the uncomfortableposition of defending ourselves
(05:06):
and our customers in alitigation environment.
SPEAKER_00 (05:08):
Well, and Pam Davato was on the show recently.
She basically said it's nolonger an issue of if a firm
will be sued, it's just when.
You know, that's just part ofthe territory.
SPEAKER_03 (05:17):
Well, and unfortunately, too, it's like it
happens once.
The likelihood of it happening asecond time is greater than the
likelihood of it happening thefirst time, right?
Like once you're squarely in theradar of the litigants, the
plaintiff's bar, it's hard toget out of these sites, you
know?
SPEAKER_00 (05:31):
I have a flash to the third Godfather movie where
Michael Corleone, they just madean attempt on his life and
people are saying, oh boy, thisis terrible.
And Michael says, no, this isthe life we chose.
SPEAKER_01 (05:42):
That's right.
That's
SPEAKER_00 (05:44):
right.
So that was just part and parcelof, you know, if you're in the
screening industry, you know,that's just another cost of
doing business, I guess, right?
SPEAKER_03 (05:50):
Yeah, I'm going to say this real quick story just
because it's fresh in my head,right?
Like the argument of theplaintiff bar is always like,
you know, the backgroundscreening industry, they're the
evil empire, you know, they'reonly interested in making money.
They cut corners you know, it'slike, you know, sloppy data, et
cetera, et cetera.
And then you read one of theircomplaints and it's like a cut
and paste from their lastlawsuit.
They're calling us like, anothercompany's name and they got
(06:13):
their client's name wrong in thedocument.
It's quite a cynical.
I'm like, who's the sloppy outfor money cut and paste guys
here?
Like, I'm pretty sure it's you.
SPEAKER_00 (06:22):
Well, I mean, that's the world we live in.
So obviously, I mean, you mustfind it interesting because it
sounds like you're kind of theSwiss army knife person when it
comes to the number of differentthings that you're confronted
with.
SPEAKER_03 (06:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
But, you know, no man is anisland, right?
We have a very solid team hereat Informed, and I rely on the
expertise of, you know, those onmy teams and those leaders in
the other functions in ourcompany.
You know, robust quality programhelps a lot.
I mean, that keeps my job to,you know, a bare minimum, right?
Quality first and, you know,legal last.
You know, like fund them, andthen you don't have to fund me,
(06:57):
right?
SPEAKER_00 (06:58):
That's worth repeating.
Quality first, legal last.
I love that phrase.
Yeah, I hadn't heard thatbefore.
That's a great way of puttingit.
That's good.
What was your career path thatgot you to inform data and doing
all the things you're doing?
SPEAKER_03 (07:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, when I was in seventhgrade, I started with a paper
route in my neighborhood, me anda buddy.
Just kidding.
Just kidding.
I actually got into the space in1998.
I think it was when everyone wasriding around in horse-drawn
buggies, and we werecommunicating via Morse code, I
believe is the way we did that,if I recall correctly back then.
But I was a young lawyer, a newlaw school graduate who had sat
(07:35):
for the bar exam, but waswaiting on results.
When I answered an advertisementin a small mountain town in
Colorado I was living in,because I to eat while I waited
for my bar exam results.
And it was actually for afast-growing background check
company.
Some of the old-timers in thisindustry were called HR Plus,
now part of the First AdvantageSterling Empire.
(07:55):
But we were a family-ownedcompany, started in a small
mountain town, Evergreen,Colorado, just above Denver.
And they were looking for help.
They were growing rapidly andhad a lot of administrative
needs internally.
So I answered a non-legal jobadvertisement, got the interview
to my and came in, interviewed,met the husband and wife team,
(08:17):
Doug and Janet Han, fantasticpeople.
And they told me a lot abouttheir company, their industry,
their growth trajectory, whatthey were projecting for growth.
Sounded really interesting tome.
They indicated a need foressentially like almost a
general manager role, and theyneeded help with all their
(08:37):
internal sort of compliancefunctions, things like writing
an employee handbook, puttingtogether employment policies,
documenting their existingoperating procedures and
policies, reviewing theircontracts and rewriting those.
And I think the thing thattipped it over for me in terms
of getting an offer there wasthe fact that the FCRA had been
amended something like threetimes in the preceding four
(09:00):
years.
And they were using somemountain town general legal
practitioner to do all of theircorporate matters, including
their FCRA compliance.
And let's just say it was alittle bit of a challenge for
the guy who when he hung up thephone with Doug going over like
a fair credit reporting actamendment, picked up the phone
and called his DUI clients,right?
(09:21):
Like, you know, as a generalpractitioner, one man law office
they were using.
So they said, you know, we'lltake a risk on you if you'll
take a risk on us, you know, hada very general role there, not
strictly legal.
I hadn't passed the bar examyet, or at least hadn't had the
results yet.
Fast forward a few months, I getthe bar exam results.
And this is my really funnystory.
Doug Hahn slides business cardsare across his desk and I look
(09:44):
at them one at a time andthey're all corporate counsel
for other background checkindustry companies.
And I'm like, what's this for?
This is the day I'm gettingsworn into the Colorado bar.
And he says, well, pick yourtitle.
And I'm like, what?
He's like, which one of thesetitles do you like?
Like, congratulations, youpassed the bar.
I'm going to order your businesscards today.
(10:05):
You know, we want to offer you acouncil role in our organization
if we're busted up for you tostay here after you pass the
bar.
And I looked at all the cards.
I wish I could remember thenames because I'm sure some of
these folks are still in theindustry.
And I remember looking at thecards and I said, any of these
titles?
And he said, yes.
And I literally had my licensefor about an hour at this point,
right?
And hadn't even been sworn inyet.
(10:25):
So I guess they technicallydidn't have it at all.
And I said, I kind of like thisone right here.
He said, general counsel.
And I'm like, yeah.
And he said, okay, we'll dothat.
And so my first job in theindustry and my first job as a
licensed attorney was generalcounsel for a rapidly growing
family owned CRA in the mountaintown of Evergreen, Colorado.
SPEAKER_00 (10:47):
Well, and for those of you that are maybe new to the
industry, I mean, if you're notfamiliar with HR Plus and Doug
Hahn and that organization, Imean, they were, that's really
the ground floor.
They were, that was a happeningfirm that was back in the late,
mid, late 90s.
And I mean, that was quite anorganization, as I recall.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_03 (11:04):
really well run, you know, quality, accuracy,
compliance first, you know,built a great reputation, you
know, high touch, high quality,much like ESR was.
SPEAKER_00 (11:14):
I don't think so.
Yeah.
I remember talking to Doug.
I thought he was a great guy.
And that must have been reallyexciting.
So you were there on the groundfloor writing the first
procedure manuals and qualitycontrol and just basically doing
it all,
SPEAKER_03 (11:26):
right?
Yes.
Yeah.
As we all did in the smallstartup organizations, right?
SPEAKER_00 (11:30):
Yeah.
Oh, that's amazing.
And then at some point they soldand then you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (11:36):
So, you know, late in my role there, you know,
again, I was general counsel,but really we were small enough
where I was really just thegeneral executive.
And the part of the job that Ireally came to enjoy the most
was supporting this, the salesteam.
Right.
So we had quite a quiet clientlist.
You know, we were a larger CRAat the time and we had a marquee
customer list.
(11:56):
And most of the organizationsthat we went after, you know, we
hunted elephants was really whatwe did.
And, you know, I got intohelping the sales leadership
write and respond to RFPs.
And I really enjoyed that.
And then when we would, youknow, make it to the
presentation round of the RFPprocess, they often would ask me
to help, believe it or not, inthe face-to-face presentation
(12:17):
aspect of the RFP process,right?
I mean, poor judgment on theirpart, but hey, you know, slim
pickings in Evergreen, Colorado,you know what I'm saying?
So anyway, I started to do that,you know, right the RFPs with
the sales teams, present theRFPs and our capabilities to
prospective customers in thelater rounds of the RFP process.
And I really enjoyed that.
And, you know, found myself sortof rethinking my career path,
(12:40):
right?
Did I want to just be anattorney, you know, in this
space that I just want to be,you know, corporate counsel,
that sort of thing?
Or did I want to do somethingbroader, you know, in the
industry?
And so I started myself downthat path with them.
And then the person I came toknow and trust and respect in
the industry through thefounding of of NAPBS reached out
to me when I found myself as afree agent after HR Plus sold
(13:02):
the private equity.
And I went to work for thisdelightful gentleman in Northern
California for a little while.
He took a chance on me doing ahybrid compliance and sales
role.
And then based on his faith andtrust, I think others in the
industry later took a similarchance on me as I, you know,
kind of grew from, you know,people used to think of me as a
lawyer only, you know,compliance first person into
(13:24):
like a broader executive in thescreening industry.
And that segued itself into arole running software provider
to the background checkindustry.
One of the largest softwareproviders.
third party platforms.
Did that for a little while.
And then about 13 years ago,landed at Lowers Risk Group.
At the time we had a CRA calledProforma.
And then we had wholesalescreening solutions amongst
(13:46):
several other businesses outsideof the screening space.
So I came in there in a, like afull VP of sales role across all
of the operating entities.
Did that for a number of years.
And then I joked that I grewmyself out of a sales leadership
role, right?
Like I did a good enough jobwhere we could afford to hire a
true, you know, expert salesleader.
(14:08):
And they were nice enough todecide to keep me on in a legal
leadership role.
So, you know, that's my fullpath back and forth between
compliance and sales.
And then obviously in some ofthe, you know, some of these
organizations were small enoughwhere I also had, you know, more
of a broad operations andtechnology role.
SPEAKER_00 (14:25):
Oh, that's fascinating.
And just out of curiosity, thegentleman you mentioned in
Northern California, that guyremembers like incredibly good
looking, incredibly smart.
SPEAKER_03 (14:33):
Yes, I think some consider him, you know, an icon
in the industry and perhaps theonly reason PBSA exists today.
For those of you unfamiliar withthis gentleman, his name is Les
Rosen.
SPEAKER_00 (14:45):
Oh, that's me.
I knew it sounded familiar, butI'd just been diagnosed with a
medical condition called CRS.
I can't remember stuff.
And so I knew what you saidsounded familiar, but, oh, that
was me who was a gentleman inNorthern California.
Okay.
I appreciate that.
Yes, yes.
Oh, that was great.
Those were great times.
Definitely.
(15:06):
Good stuff.
So basically, I mean, it's justa fascinating journey you've
had.
And also just the length andbreadth and depth of the things
you've done is really amazing.
You know, based on that, one ofmy standard questions, and I'll
put it to you.
Is there a lesson that youlearned early in your career or
at some point in your careerthat stuck with you and that
kind of stands out as somethingthat, oh yeah, that's good to
(15:29):
know?
SPEAKER_03 (15:31):
Yeah.
Well, it's funny, you know,you've been in this space long
enough to know this as well,less than I think some of the
other old timers like you and Iare familiar with this as well.
You know, this industry, likemany industries at the end of
the day, you know, when you kindof understand it and spend
enough time in it is a verysmall industry, right?
It's, you know, everyone knows,you know, each other knows of
each other.
If you don't know somebody, youknow, somebody who does, right?
(15:54):
And early in my career, I met, Ithink, the Hans being examples
of this, yourself being exampleof this.
You know, I met people, I wasfortunate enough to have people
around me in this space whowere, who had built reputations
based on trust and integrity,who knew the importance of their
reputation.
And I think one of the earlylessons I learned is, you know,
even in an industry where youhave some anonymity, the
(16:17):
importance of, you know,integrity and the importance of,
and the value of your reputationis perhaps the most valuable
thing that you have andsomething that you can lose
easily and gain back with agreat deal of difficulty.
So for the younger people outthere just starting their
careers in this space, not justbecause of its size, but because
(16:38):
it's the right thing to do, bemindful of your reputation and
your integrity and how youoperate, whether that's with
your colleagues, your vendors,your customers, or the person
holding the door for you at thePVSA conference hotel as you
enter.
mentor, right?
Being a, you know, a personwho's respectful to others and
somebody thinks of when theythink of trust and integrity is
(17:02):
really core to your success.
SPEAKER_00 (17:04):
Boy, that's such a great observation.
And I really love the fact that,you know, the way you say it
extends not just to yourco-workers, your employer, but
your competitors, your friends,customers, applicants,
consumers, waiters andwaitresses and restaurants, just
everybody.
The lesson to be learned is totreat everybody right.
I think that's just such a greatobservation.
(17:24):
I appreciate that.
What do you enjoy most about thebackground screening industry?
I mean, you obviously were atalented guy, and you could be
in any industry you wanted to.
What keeps you in the backgroundindustry?
What attracts you, or what doyou find interesting about it?
SPEAKER_03 (17:37):
It's actually funny.
I have a 14-year-old son who's,you know, a bit of a nerd.
He's actually in a STEM programout here in Virginia.
And the path he's on that hewants to stay on is computer
science.
And so we were having aconversation the other day about
like what in that area does, youknow, does he want to do?
And, you know, he was explainingit to me and I knew what he was
talking about shockingly to him,I think.
(17:57):
And we had a, you know, he's 14,right?
Turning 15.
So we're in the dad's an idiotstage of our relationship,
right?
So, and oh yeah, sure, dad, youdid things like this too, what
back in the stone age right soyou know i figure i got 10 years
more of that and then i realizedyou know that there is actually
some wisdom in his father butanyway we were talking about
that and i think he wassurprised that sort of my
(18:19):
fluency if you will with respectto you know things tech right
and just to be clear i'm not acoder you know i'm not to that
level but i do know how all thepieces fit together fairly well
and you know i was saying to himthat what I've liked about what
I do today.
Don't get me wrong.
I like some of the lawyer stuff,too.
But what I really like aboutwhat I do today and where this
(18:41):
industry has evolved over timeis, you know, like that
intersection or that crossroadsbetween like legal compliance,
policy compliance andtechnology, you know, like like
being able to get with adevelopment team and spec and
then, you know, test and use,you know, a piece of software
that helps, you know, informdata, be more compliance, helps
(19:02):
our customers and theircustomers stay in compliance,
like that's pretty exciting tome.
We built a couple of tools, youknow, without revealing a lot of
detail in our IP here, but webuilt two tools here that I'm
particularly proud of that arejust examples of that sort of
crossroads.
We call one heightened risk.
And so this stems from There wasa lawsuit back a few years ago.
(19:25):
I'll leave the names of theguilty out of the equation, but
there was a lawsuit severalyears ago, probably a decade or
more ago now, where a larger CRAin our space had made the same
repeated mistake on the sameconsumer across multiple
employers over a relativelyshort period of time.
They would correct it.
in instance one and thenrepeated in instance two,
(19:46):
corrected in instance two,repeated in instance three.
This happened at least fourtimes.
It might have been six, I can'trecall, but over a relatively
short period of time.
Well, you know, the guy waswilling to be, you know,
forgiving the first couple oftimes.
Eventually he got fed up, fileda lawsuit, and there was a
pretty significant seven, lowseven figure settlement.
And I remember that happened, Ibelieve, around when I started
(20:10):
at Lauer's Risk Group WholesaleScreening Solutions.
And I said to the leadershipthere, like, hey, we need to
prevent this from occurring.
And if we do this at wholesale,You know, this benefits all of
our CRM customers, you know,from, you know, having a repeat
occurrence of a defect.
Right.
And so we built a tool, we callit heightened risk.
And basically what it does is itcontrols that.
(20:32):
So we have various settingswhere we can set it broadly.
And we say like, oh, anytimeVince Pasquarelli comes across,
he's a problem child.
We're going to do like a thirdor fourth round of quality
assurance, right?
It comes into a special queuemanaged by like, you know, our
senior most teammates that dolike quality review and they
make sure that, you know, basedon, you know, details we have
(20:52):
about the initial defect that wedon't repeat that defect.
And we can dial that up or down,you know, we could talk about a
specific case in a specificcourt for a specific consumer,
or we can say this consumer ingeneral, you know, is a concern
because of the complexity of theissue the first time or for some
other reason, right?
Heightened scrutiny is a tool webuilt here at Informed Data,
(21:12):
which is essentially intendedto, so the two most common sort
of defects, if you will, ifyou're a wholesaler like us or a
CRA, right, are, you know, amismatch on identifiers or
calling someone a felon whenthey're not, right?
They're arrested for a felony,but it gets amended to a
misdemeanor.
And so, you know, we haveaddressed the latter common
(21:35):
defect.
I mean, not common like ithappens a lot, but common like
when a defect happens, it'soften this type of a defect,
right?
Just because the way dockets arestructured and all of that.
But we built the tool that says,you know, hey, what do we know
about felonies or what do weknow about misdemeanors that are
unique to felonies or unique tomisdemeanors that can't be you
know, are there aspects of thiscase detail that means it must
(21:57):
be a felony or it can't be afelony, right?
And so we're rolling this out,you know, jurisdiction by
jurisdiction, because there areuniquenesses, you know, in the
dockets that are specific to,you know, either a whole state
in a consolidated court systemor in an individual court for a
non-consolidated jurisdiction.
And we say like, hey, if it hitson this and there's an
abnormality where we're callingit a felony, but it can't be a
(22:20):
felony based on these ruleswe've created, it goes into a
special Right.
So you could
SPEAKER_00 (22:26):
raise a red flag based upon any number of
factors.
You know, you and I are bothlawyers, so we don't need to go
into all the poor people, allthe details.
But yeah, when you dig into it,you could find what those flags
are.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (22:40):
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But building that stuff is thefun part, right?
Like thinking it through andfiguring out like, Hey, you
know, you can build it this wayand it'll cost like a million
dollars and take 10 years to do,or you can build it, you know,
slowly this way and it costs youlike, you know, a thousand
dollars a month for a year.
And, you know, what's the systemcapable of and, you know, how do
I get priority in thedevelopment queue for this, you
(23:01):
know, based on how you kind ofstructure it.
And that part's just fascinatingto me and super interesting.
UNKNOWN (23:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:06):
Yeah, I mean, what you described is the journey
that we're all familiar with.
I mean, trying to do things andcompeting for development time
and, you know, the costbenefits.
So, yeah, I mean,intellectually, it is very
interesting.
It's always a challenge.
So it keeps you busy, right?
Definitely.
Yeah, yeah.
That's why when I knew you, youused to have a full head of
(23:26):
hair.
And I think, no, I'm justkidding.
That's right.
Like I'm one to talk, right?
Well,
SPEAKER_03 (23:32):
it's funny.
I mean, I was actually thinkingabout when prepping for this
conversation, you know, like howthis industry has evolved,
right?
And we're talking aboutdevelopment time and technical
specifications and qualitytesting of new software and all
of that.
But back when you and I started,I mean, gosh, I remember when I
walked into HR Plus for thatinterview, they had colored
(23:52):
files like adorning the office.
Like they were all like yellow,blue, green, you know, whatever.
And I remember asking, one ofthe first things I asked in the
interview was like, what's upwith the colored Manila folder?
You know, like the Manilafolders, but all different
colors.
And they're like, oh, those aredue dates.
I said, what do you mean thoseare due dates?
And like, well, we promise ourcustomers, you know, a two to
three day turnaround time.
(24:13):
And yellow means it's due onMonday.
Blue means it's due on Tuesday.
And then there were like orangefolders everywhere.
And I said, what are the orangefolders?
And they're like, oh, that'sU-Haul.
Which is like one of theirlargest customers at the time,
right?
So they have their own folders.
And I'm like, so how comethey're not by date?
And they're like, we get theU-Haul folders out as quickly as
(24:34):
we can.
SPEAKER_00 (24:36):
That's amazing.
We all have those stories fromthe early days.
We used to have files by thedate the order came in.
So Monday was blue because it'sBlue Monday.
And if a Monday file was stillsitting there Wednesday, I mean,
someone better pay attention toit.
That's right.
And people in the industry now,particularly with the data back,
are like, what are you peopletalking about?
(24:56):
How is it even possible to buildmillion dollar firms with blue
folders?
And we did it.
When I
SPEAKER_03 (25:02):
first got there, everything was faxed, right?
You would fax the court.
Like SJV was, you know, one ofmy vendors at HR Plus back in
like 1999, right?
Scott Vanek, when he was astartup wholesaler in the
industry, we were one of his,you know, early accounts or
whatever.
And, you know, we would fax himorders.
He would fax us results back,right?
Like literally like paper wouldcome out of the fax machine with
(25:23):
the results.
Somebody would pay pick it up,put it in a folder, bring it
over for data entry, right?
And I remember when we installedWriteFax, like it was like 1999
or, you know, 2000, I'd beenthere for like a year, you know,
maybe two or whatever.
And we installed WriteFax andfor those youngins on the,
watching the podcast today,WriteFax basically digitized the
fax.
So it would still come in viafax, but it would digitize the
(25:45):
paper.
So you didn't have to like pickup a piece of paper and move it
into a folder.
You could pick up the piece ofpaper, but what we used to do,
we use WriteFax, you could printit at your desk.
Instead of having to walk overto the FC, put it back in the
folder, right?
At the time, that
SPEAKER_00 (25:59):
was a leap.
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (26:01):
And it's interesting.
You were in the HR plus.
The FCRA was amendedsubstantially for employment
purposes in 96, effective 97.
It was just a total, huge,shattering, earth-changing
changes in how it all handled.
And then some changes since.
You really were there from thebeginning.
And that makes it reallyinteresting, that type of
(26:23):
perspective.
Back to that.
Do you remember the, you werethe
SPEAKER_03 (26:25):
pocket constitutions less, you know, the little
constitutions.
So we had a pocket FCRA at HRPlus.
SPEAKER_00 (26:33):
All right.
And those were the days, andagain, a lot of people go, what
are you talking about?
When we all read and studied andlooked at the tea leaves that
were contained in the FTC staffopinion letters.
And those were the signs that wewould look at to figure out what
to do.
I mean, interesting.
And, you know, sometimes I askabout changes and challenges,
but I think you've covered that,right?
Yeah.
So- Looking back at your careerin the background screening
(26:56):
industry, what actually do youlook back and say to yourself,
God, that was cool?
I mean, it brings a smile toyour face as an accomplishment
or a challengement or somethingthat you go, yeah, that was a
good one.
SPEAKER_03 (27:10):
Yeah, I think two things really stand out to me.
You know, one's personal andone's more like sort of team
oriented, right?
So I'll do the personal onefirst.
So I think it was like around2005 or something, you know, you
know, found myself, you know, atthis sort of like crossroads in
my career where I was like, do Iwant to stay in the industry?
You know, do I want to leave?
Do I want to do something on myown?
(27:31):
Do I want to work for someoneelse again?
Like that sort of a thing.
And I remember, you know,mentally setting a goal for
myself.
I want to lead a company in therole of like president or CEO
within the next five years,whether that's my own thing or
whether I, you know, do that forsomeone else who, you know, is
it where there's an impact onthe industry was if I was going
to do it for somebody else, Iwanted it to be, you know, an
(27:53):
interesting role that was likedifferent and new.
And that was like, you know,somewhere in the center of the
industry that would have, youknow, more of an impact on, you
know, an impact on more thanjust one organization.
Right.
And lo and behold, exactly fiveyears later, I joined Clearstar
as president.
And I just remember like, youknow, when I hung up the phone
with Bob Vail and, you know,knew that offer was coming, I
(28:15):
just said to him, I alwayssmiled at myself, you know,
like, like you said to yourselffive years, you know, and you
wanted something like this andhere it is.
Right.
And so, you know, Thanks, Bob,for that opportunity and for
filling up a personal goal ofmine.
I, you know, definitely forevergrateful for that opportunity.
SPEAKER_00 (28:30):
That's great.
And what was the second one?
You said there was two of them.
SPEAKER_03 (28:33):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
The second one was honestly justthe trajectory and the path of
what is today informed data.
You know, when I joinedwholesale screening in, you
know, early 2012, you know, wewere a relatively small company.
I think if I had an employeenumber, it would be 34 or
something like that.
And that's across, you know, proforma wholesale in the remainder
of Lauer's Risk Group, right?
So we went from there to wherewe are today in a relatively
(28:56):
short timeframe.
I'm like forever proud of thataccomplishment.
I mean, the team The team we hadat Wholesale, the team we had
and have at Informedata, youknow, current and past teams at
both places were truly amazing.
I mean, I used to talk aboutthis whenever anybody would ask,
like, how did you guys do it?
And quite honestly, you know,back to like an earlier tenant I
(29:18):
was talking about, I mean, trustand integrity.
I mean, we trusted each other,you know, we knew we could rely
on the word of one another andit was just, you know, it is and
remains a really fun ride, youknow, with a lot of great
people.
You know, people have come andgone, but I think the one core
trait of, you know, both I thinklegacy organizations, SJV and
(29:38):
wholesale and, you know, what istoday informed data has been the
quality and the caliber of thepeople from a competency
standpoint, but also from acharacter integrity perspective
as well.
Just a lot of great people.
SPEAKER_00 (29:52):
That's fantastic.
And your ride there continues.
I mean, you're still involved inall the things that are
happening and transforming andall the new things that are
occurring.
So that must be fun as well.
SPEAKER_03 (30:03):
Yeah, yeah, it's great.
And that, you know, theevolution of technology in
general in this space has beenfascinating to watch and, you
know, like the new frontier nowis AI, right?
And then, you know, adopting theuse of that throughout our
organization for the bettermentof ourselves and the betterment
of our customers and theircustomer customers, and
ultimately the consumer doingreally exciting and interesting
things, you know, along thoselines, it's never a dull moment,
(30:25):
right?
It's been an opportunity to kindof grow, you know, from my own
sort of knowledge set every yearis a little bit different.
There's something new,interesting and challenging and
and new things to learn anddiscover and play around with.
And it's definitely still anexciting industry.
SPEAKER_00 (30:40):
I mean, the story you told earlier about your son
being impressed that youactually knew about some of this
stuff, it just reminded me ofthe old story that you get
smarter as your kids get older.
That's all right.
That's right.
That's right.
They get to a stage where,you're not as dumb as I thought.
That's all right.
But you have to live throughthat
SPEAKER_03 (30:58):
stage.
SPEAKER_00 (31:00):
All right.
SPEAKER_03 (31:00):
You're a hero until they're like 12, and then you're
an idiot until they're 24,right?
You're
SPEAKER_00 (31:05):
right.
And then at 24, they becomeinteresting, and you become
interesting, too.
them again.
But like they said in The LionKing, it's the cycle of life.
What are you going to do?
So you mentioned PBSA, and Iappreciate your comments about
PBSA and my role in that and soforth.
But let's talk about your rolein PSA, because I remember you
and PBSA from the very beginningand at conferences and
(31:28):
presenting.
Tell us what the role of PBSAhas been in your career.
SPEAKER_03 (31:32):
Yeah, yeah.
It's been really instrumental, Ithink, in my career path.
I mean, first got involved inPBSA before it was even NAPVS,
right?
Like there was a small group offolks, you recall, you were the
leader amongst them, you know,who decided that this was a need
in the industry.
We were approached, HR Plus wasapproached by that core group
that I think at the ClearwaterPre-Employment Screeners
(31:54):
Conference had originally comeup with like this idea, this
concept.
And we were approached andinitially we were a little
skeptical, like, you Like, isthis something we want to do?
Does this have legs?
You know, is this a good ideafor us?
Is this going to be good for theindustry or not?
And so we were a little bit slowto kind of adopt that.
So we weren't directly involvedin sort of like the formation of
(32:16):
it, but we did wisen up in timeto make the first actual
conference that was held inScottsdale in 2003.
I think that was, that's right.
And so we were a foundingmember.
I think we were like a very lateround, like just under the
whistle founding member, but wedid, we had We were able to put
that moniker on our marketingmaterials.
So we made it to the dance.
(32:37):
And just from the moment, youknow, that I walked into that
really tiny hotel in Scottsdale.
And obviously I knew youalready.
I recall we may have beensupporting you with your drug
testing at some point.
And I think we met that wayoriginally.
SPEAKER_01 (32:50):
Right, exactly.
That's right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (32:52):
Yeah.
And then I knew of you more thanI knew you.
I think we had emailed andtalked on the phone, but I don't
think we'd ever met in person.
And, you know, from the momentwe walked into that space, I
mean, I still have relationshipsfrom that first day.
you know, in this industry, youknow, obviously you amongst
them, but the caliber and thequality of the people in that
room was so high, you know, atthat conference and the energy
level was so exciting that, youknow, we knew we made the right
(33:14):
decision in doing that, youknow, the Hans and I, right?
So I was the only non-Hanpresent at the early NAPBS
events, which was great becauseit allowed me to meet everybody
because they would go out forfamily dinners and I would be
left alone, not knowing anyoneand, you know, looking for
friends, right?
So got involved early, I thinkthe first two years that NAPBS,
the predecessor that PBSAexisted.
I was fortunate enough toco-chair what is now Industry
(33:37):
Practices.
I think it was called BestPractices or Compliance and Best
Practices or something like thatback then.
SPEAKER_00 (33:43):
Yeah, I don't remember.
I just remember the night beforeit started, I just made up some
committees.
I said, yeah, well, here's somecommittees.
Let's see how that works.
And that was one of them.
That's right.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:52):
Right, right.
Yeah, because you were probablyup all night with it.
You had three, four hours ofsleep, right?
Yeah.
For those of you that don'tknow, Les does more work between
midnight and 6 a.m.
than most of us do in a week.
Like, it's insane.
So probably still tenetic, Ithink this is true.
I don't know how he does it, butit was impressive to see the
(34:12):
amount of work.
and the quality of it that comesinto my inbox at three in the
morning.
But yeah, like, so that was thebeginning of, you know, my
involvement with any PBS, PBSAand, you know, every company
that I, you know, moved to inthis industry was a result of
the relationships I builtthrough, you know, my
involvement with PBSA.
A lot of my, you know,leadership experiences were
(34:35):
through that organization.
It's really just a greatorganization, particularly for
people that are new to theindustry or earlier career.
You know, I got to do thingslike government relations that I
never would have gotten anopportunity to do without, you
know, my involvement with PBSA.
You know, I got to do thingsoutside of really like what my
core function happened to be atthe time.
A lot of opportunities to learnnew things and really understand
(34:56):
how all the pieces fit together,whether that's like the vendors
or, you know, the softwares or,you know, the technology or, you
know, all the ins and outs ofthe industry.
Just a great place to learn.
SPEAKER_00 (35:08):
And I know you presented it.
You and I were on Tony and theTime Bomb together, right?
Yes, yes.
Art Cohen's concoction.
Yes.
Putting together mock trialswith Tony the Time Bomb being
the bad guy.
Can we get away with that
SPEAKER_03 (35:23):
today?
That seems like not politicallycorrect to call the job
applicant Tony Time Bomb.
I think that was
SPEAKER_00 (35:28):
a real simple times list.
Yeah, different world.
We probably wouldn't do thattoday.
We'd be like, Tony, give him achance.
I mean, today would be secondchance, Tony.
You're right.
But that's right.
I guess it was in Tennessee.
It was at Nashville.
We put together like athree-hour trial or something.
(35:49):
And you were, I can't rememberwhat all the roles were.
SPEAKER_03 (35:52):
Oh, I do.
I remember.
And here's why I remember.
There were, I think everybodyinvolved was a lawyer, except
only three of us could be thelawyers in the room, right?
So Art Cohen was the judge.
And so the three litigators theychose, right, were Les Rosen,
Pam Davada, and VincePascarella.
Let me tell you a little bit ofsomething about the caliber of
the litigation experience.
(36:13):
So Les is like a careerlitigator, right?
Like for those of you that don'tknow, right, he cut his teeth,
you know, as both a prosecutorand a defense attorney, like a
lot of trial room experience.
Pam Devada speaks for herself.
I don't need to say much there.
And then me.
So I got to go.
And I was representing the CRA.
So I'm litigation counsel forthe Consumer Reporting Agency.
I don't know who came up withthis idea, Art Cohen, but I'm
(36:35):
pretty sure it was you.
And then I have to go up againstPam Devada and Les Rosen.
Let me tell you something.
That was a really intimidatingexperience.
And then Art Cohen acted like anactual judge.
He appropriately harummed fromthe bench.
Oh, God.
Right.
And then Art's also a veryexperienced litigator.
So it was good time for Vince.
I'm pretty sure the CRA losttheir, didn't they go out of
business as a result of theirlitigation counsel?
SPEAKER_00 (36:58):
I'm not sure, but Jason Morris brought Tony the
Time Bomb back a couple yearsago.
We did it again, and I can'tremember who, but there's a
whole cast of lawyers who wereinvolved in that.
Yes, I attended that.
SPEAKER_03 (37:08):
That was great.
SPEAKER_00 (37:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You managed to keep a lowprofile and not get picked as
one of the attorneys this time.
Yeah, I actually, I told Jason,no way.
Yeah, really.
And I said, I don't want to doany work.
I'm going to be the judge.
That's right.
I'm not going to actuallyprepare anything.
It was a great group of people.
That was really fun.
So let's move away frombackground screening and PBSA.
(37:31):
Mr.
Vince Pasquarello, tell us alittle bit about yourself
outside of background screeningand some of your hobbies and
interests and things you like todo for fun.
Well, my interests includebreakdancing.
Just kidding.
Yeah, I don't mean you broke aleg dancing.
That's what it
SPEAKER_03 (37:50):
sounds like.
SPEAKER_00 (37:51):
Yeah, I think that's coming for
SPEAKER_03 (37:53):
sure.
But I actually dabble in thesport.
I'm like the woman in theOlympics there.
Did you see that at all?
Like the
SPEAKER_00 (38:01):
dancer from Australia, right?
SPEAKER_03 (38:03):
Yeah, exactly.
That's about my speed, my stylethere.
But I'm like a fitness person.
I work out regularly.
I do some road cycling, enjoysnowboarding and hiking,
although I do miss living inColorado where it's a heck of a
lot easier to do that than it ishere on the East Coast.
And I recently got remarried, soI went from being a single dad
(38:24):
of two to a father of six with aginormous family of cousins and
aunts and uncles, all locals.
So it's been a really fun changeon a personal level from
spending a lot of time alone orjust with my two children to now
my six children and theircousins and aunts and uncles and
grandparents all locally.
So that's been fun over the lastfive years.
SPEAKER_00 (38:46):
Good for you.
Congratulations.
That's fantastic.
How old is your daughter?
SPEAKER_03 (38:50):
My daughter is a sophomore in college.
She just turned 20 a littlewhile ago, but now I have three
daughters, 23, 20, 20, and threesons, 22, 18.
SPEAKER_00 (38:59):
Daughter that I knew as like a two or three-year-old,
like a little tyke, is now asophomore in college.
SPEAKER_03 (39:04):
Yeah, she's studying Italian, actually.
Yeah, she's going to do a summerprogram in Italy, and then she's
looking at a master's programthat will put her back in Italy
for a whole year.
So, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (39:15):
Well, I mean, it's not like you're making me feel
old, but I can remember when shecould barely walk, and now she's
doing a summer program in Italy,and it's like, okay,
SPEAKER_03 (39:24):
right.
SPEAKER_00 (39:24):
Yeah, if I'm remembering
SPEAKER_03 (39:25):
right, didn't your daughter babysit her once?
SPEAKER_00 (39:27):
It could be.
Wow.
Boy, that puts life inperspective.
It really does.
Well, okay.
I guess I didn't realize thatyou had that big of a family
going.
That's fantastic.
So in addition to everythingelse, to the Informed Data
family that takes up a lot oftime, you have your family
family.
SPEAKER_03 (39:46):
Oh, yeah.
And it's funny.
They're super close.
So when we get together, there'sliterally 30 of us.
And so it's like a smallwedding, like a Sunday, roughly
every other month, right?
And then we do a big beach houserental every summer with the 30
of us.
And now the older cousins, ofcourse, are all starting to
date.
So you get like boyfriends andgirlfriends making like
appearances and Sometimes it's ahouse of 40, so it's fun.
SPEAKER_00 (40:09):
And you're sitting on top of all that going, oh, my
word.
Yes, my life was so simple whenit was me and my two, right?
Yeah, right.
Well, I really appreciate yourtime here.
I can do this all day, but letme wrap it up with a couple
final questions.
Time to play Fun Facts.
Tell us something about yourselfthat people may not know or
(40:30):
realize, completely unrelated tobackground screening.
Vince Pasquarello, what's yoursecret?
My
SPEAKER_03 (40:36):
secret?
I have no secrets.
I'm an open book, as everyone inthis space knows.
But a little known fact, Iguess, would be I started my
college career as a fine artsmajor, drawing and painting
specifically.
Chose my undergraduate collegebased on the strength of the
fine arts program.
And when I got there and saw thetalent around me, I got really
(40:56):
scared and decided I was, youknow, the starving artist was
not a good look and shiftedgears into political science,
which led me to law schooleventually.
So All right.
I mean,
SPEAKER_00 (41:10):
that is so funny.
I mean, I know a lot of lawyerswho started off as something
different.
It's like, I think law school.
SPEAKER_03 (41:18):
Yeah, I played with Sommelier, actually.
I went to undergrad in theHamptons and worked in like
three and four star restaurantsand, you know, enjoy wine and
everything that comes with it.
And I took the hangover, Isuppose.
And I literally, you know, Itook a year, I took a gap year
in between undergrad and lawschool and worked in a
restaurant out there known forits wine list.
And we had a Sommelier and andwe became friends and I, you
(41:40):
know, was this close.
You know, when it was time toleave for Boulder, Colorado, for
U.S.
Colorado Law School, I almostdidn't do it, like, because I
was, this close to going downthe path of sommelier, master
sommelier.
Wow, did you start the sommelierprogram?
I didn't, but there's a program,I think it's on Netflix or
(42:01):
something, that all of myrestaurant friends say is an
absolute must.
So I think it would scare meoff, honestly.
It's probably a harder path thanlaw school.
SPEAKER_00 (42:11):
Oh, no, becoming a sommelier is insane.
And, you know, all the, youknow, tasting.
You know, I've always lovedthose James Bond novels where he
would taste a wine and say,oh...
a 43 something or other from theupper field of this vineyard or
something or other.
Like, really?
Right, right, right.
Sounds good.
I forgot about that because Iremember talking to you about
(42:32):
your near career as a sommelier.
And I think we talked about thatonce.
You took me out for like one ofthe best dinners I ever remember
to an Italian steakhouse inChicago.
I remember that.
Yeah, we ordered the left sideof the menu.
That's right.
Yeah, the SHRM conference Iremember.
Yeah, exactly.
And I think what happened wasyou said, well, you're paying.
I said, Okay, left side of themenu, please.
And he's like, more food than Iknew existed.
(42:57):
It's like, oh my God, that wasgreat.
But you're awesome.
Weren't you originally fromSyracuse or someplace that got
25 feet of snow during thewinter?
SPEAKER_03 (43:06):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I grew up in Syracuse, went tocollege on Eastern Long Island
and I kind of lived all overthough.
I've been with tumbleweed afterhigh school and you know, lived
on and off.
So I, my kids are impressed bythis statistic.
I think I've lived in likesomething like 19 addresses in.
You know, 14 cities and sevenstates in my lifetime, so.
(43:27):
Been kicked out of.
I'm not sure I follow.
Oh, I see.
Well, it's funny.
People are always like, militaryfamily or witness protection,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (43:34):
Closer to witness protection is the answer.
Oh, all right.
Well, this, I could keep doingthis forever.
This is like a lot of fun.
And there's so many things.
Here, I've known you a longtime.
I thought I knew all about you.
And there's just, it's just, youknow, the insights and the
stories are just fantastic.
This has been really fun.
So before we sign off, a coupleof Last questions.
You kind of hit a little bit,but let me just put it right to
(43:56):
you directly.
If someone came to you and theywere thinking about entering the
screening profession or they'vebeen in it for a couple of years
or wondering if they shouldcontinue, what's your advice for
someone who's new or newish?
Run.
SPEAKER_03 (44:09):
Run.
SPEAKER_00 (44:10):
No,
SPEAKER_03 (44:11):
no, no.
I kid.
I kid.
I mean, back to some of thethings we talked about today.
I mean, you know, build anetwork.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (44:18):
Like
SPEAKER_03 (44:19):
the way the puzzle pieces fit together in this
industry is fascinating by itsown right.
But there is a lot that isopaque.
I think to most people in theindustry, you know, there are a
lot of connections between likewhere the data originates, you
know, what the data is, who hasthe data, what data is
overlapping or the same, youknow, like all that stuff is
really fascinating.
(44:39):
And then how all like thetechnology pieces fit together
in the space, whether it's thescreening space or the drug
testing space is also just likefascinating you know, puzzle
when you understand and see howall those pieces fit together.
You know, the people part ofthat network is, you know,
really important.
There are a lot of really greatpeople, really smart people in
this space.
(44:59):
Listen to them, learn from them.
And then, you know, remember,you don't get your reputation
back once it's lost.
So, you know, operate aboveboard and do the right thing
and, you know, be a good person,right?
For a variety of reasons, both,you know, self-interest and
otherwise, right?
SPEAKER_00 (45:15):
Well, this has been a great conversation.
I really appreciated it.
And let me just ask you beforewe sign off to give you, as
sometimes I say on TV, let megive you the last word and we'll
close it out.
I'll make
SPEAKER_03 (45:27):
my last word simple.
Thank you, Les.
Thank you for your industryleadership.
Thank you for your example ofintegrity.
And foremost, thank you for yourfriendship.
SPEAKER_00 (45:37):
Vince, it's been a pleasure.
And ladies and gentlemen, thishas been a really fun episode of
Behind the Screens,conversations with background
pros.
And today's pro is a longtimefriend and a fantastic resource
in the screening industry, anextremely accomplished attorney.
You heard about it here, prettymuch the tip of the iceberg.
There's a lot more to know, butI think this has been a great
(45:58):
introduction.
It has been our pleasure to hearfrom Mr.
Vince Pascarella.
Thanks, Vince.
Thanks, Les.
All right, that was yet anotherwonderful conversation with a
background screening pro.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to hit subscribe so
(46:20):
you never miss an update.
And hey, if you got a moment,we'd love for you to leave us a
review.
It really helps get the wordout.
For more info or to catch up onpast episodes or to make
suggestions or to suggestpossible future guests, head
over to our website.
Once again, this is your host,Les Rosen, and it's been a
pleasure to bring you anotherepisode.
(46:42):
See you on the next episode.
Thanks.
I remember when I walked into HR Plus for that
(00:01):
interview, they had coloredfiles.
like adorning the office.
Like they were all like yellow,blue, green, you know, whatever.
And I remember asking one of thefirst things I asked in the
interview was like, what's upwith the colored Manila folder?
You know, like the Manilafolders, but all different
colors.
And they're like, oh, those aredue dates.
I said, what do you mean thoseare due dates?
And like, well, we promise ourcustomers, you know, a two to
(00:22):
three day turnaround time.
And yellow means it's due onMonday.
Blue means it's due on Tuesday.
And then there were like orangefolders everywhere.
And I said, what are the orangefolders?
And they're like, oh, that'sU-Haul.
Which is like one of theirlargest customers at the time,
right?
So they have their own folders.
And I'm like, so how comethey're not, you know, by date?
(00:43):
And they're like, we get theU-Haul folders out as quickly as
we can.
SPEAKER_00 (00:46):
That's amazing.
We all have those stories fromthe early days.
We used to have files by thedate the order came in.
So Monday was blue because it'sBlue Monday.
And, you know, if a Monday fileis still sitting there
Wednesday, I mean, someonebetter pay attention to it.
That's right.
UNKNOWN (01:02):
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (01:08):
Welcome to Behind the Screens, conversations with
background screening pros.
I'm Les Rosen, your host, andI'm excited to have you here.
On this podcast, we chat withthe people who know the
background screening worldinside and out.
Executives, industry experts,legal pros, and more.
We dive into their personalstories and insights to give you
(01:28):
a real look at what's happeningbehind the scenes.
Whether you work in thescreening industry or are just
curious, Behind the screensbring you the real, unfiltered
conversations from the peoplewho make it all happen.
Stick around for stories youwon't hear anywhere else.
(01:50):
And ladies and gentlemen, LesRosen here.
Welcome to another episode ofBehind the Screens,
conversations with backgroundscreening pros, the people who
actually make it happen and thepeople in the know.
And talk about someone who's inthe know is one of my favorite
people in the screeningindustry, the gentleman who I
can best describe as a guy whohas been there and done that.
(02:14):
Mr.
Vince Pascarella has, one timeor another, has had his fingers
involved, I think, in everyaspect of the screening
industry.
He's a compliance guru, but he'sdone sales and marketing and
production and criminal records,and I'm sure he's fooled around
with technology.
And everything else there is todo is one of the star words of
(02:35):
the screening industry.
My pleasure to introduce Mr.
Vince Pascarella.
Vince, welcome.
Thanks, Les.
Happy to be here.
I've known you for years, and Ifinally had trouble with your
name, and I finally figured outPascarella.
In my brain, I finally gotthrough that, so I failed to say
Pascarella, and here we go.
(02:56):
Most
SPEAKER_03 (02:56):
phonetically perfect names are a challenge for folks.
All
SPEAKER_00 (03:01):
right.
So, Vince, for those who don'tknow you, I think everyone does,
but for those who may not, tellus about what you currently do.
So today
SPEAKER_03 (03:09):
I am Chief Legal Officer and Chief Compliance
Officer for Informedata.
Informedata has been inexistence under that brand for
about three and a half years.
We were the result of the mergerbetween Wholesale Screening
Solutions and SJV andAssociates, which happened in
late 2021.
SPEAKER_00 (03:28):
And you started off with which one of those again?
With
SPEAKER_03 (03:31):
Wholesale Screening Solutions as part of the Lowers
Risk Group.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (03:35):
And so how long have you been with Lowers Risk Group,
wholesale screening, and nowInformed Data altogether?
SPEAKER_03 (03:40):
You know, at the risk of revealing my advanced
age, about 13 years, believe itor not.
SPEAKER_00 (03:47):
Well, the fact that you can remember means your age
isn't that advanced, so that'spretty good.
I've always liked you, Mike.
So what's your current positionthere?
What are you currently doing atInformed Data?
SPEAKER_03 (04:00):
I run our internal compliance function with a small
team, and then I run ourinternal legal in general
function with a hybrid team, asmall team inside, and then I
use outside counsel for variousmatters and manage all those
relationships.
SPEAKER_00 (04:14):
I mean, considering the length and breadth of
service offerings, that'sprobably going to keep you
pretty busy.
What areas do you really focuson among others?
SPEAKER_03 (04:22):
Yeah, I mean, I joke internally that I, you know, I'm
doing three or four people'sjobs, but we have a pretty
robust compliance infrastructureinternally.
So that entails like all of ourinternal policies and
procedures, all of ourcontractual obligations to both
vendors and customers.
And then of course, consumerdisputes, everyone in this
industry's favorite topic.
So that all falls under ourcompliance function.
(04:44):
We have some overlap with ourquality department as well.
On the legal side, I doeverything from, you to, you
know, managing.
I'm not a litigator.
I don't do litigation directly,but I manage outside counsel and
do litigation support for themwhen we occasionally find
ourselves in the uncomfortableposition of defending ourselves
(05:06):
and our customers in alitigation environment.
SPEAKER_00 (05:08):
Well, and Pam Davato was on the show recently.
She basically said it's nolonger an issue of if a firm
will be sued, it's just when.
You know, that's just part ofthe territory.
SPEAKER_03 (05:17):
Well, and unfortunately, too, it's like it
happens once.
The likelihood of it happening asecond time is greater than the
likelihood of it happening thefirst time, right?
Like once you're squarely in theradar of the litigants, the
plaintiff's bar, it's hard toget out of these sites, you
know?
SPEAKER_00 (05:31):
I have a flash to the third Godfather movie where
Michael Corleone, they just madean attempt on his life and
people are saying, oh boy, thisis terrible.
And Michael says, no, this isthe life we chose.
SPEAKER_01 (05:42):
That's right.
That's
SPEAKER_00 (05:44):
right.
So that was just part and parcelof, you know, if you're in the
screening industry, you know,that's just another cost of
doing business, I guess, right?
SPEAKER_03 (05:50):
Yeah, I'm going to say this real quick story just
because it's fresh in my head,right?
Like the argument of theplaintiff bar is always like,
you know, the backgroundscreening industry, they're the
evil empire, you know, they'reonly interested in making money.
They cut corners you know, it'slike, you know, sloppy data, et
cetera, et cetera.
And then you read one of theircomplaints and it's like a cut
and paste from their lastlawsuit.
They're calling us like, anothercompany's name and they got
(06:13):
their client's name wrong in thedocument.
It's quite a cynical.
I'm like, who's the sloppy outfor money cut and paste guys
here?
Like, I'm pretty sure it's you.
SPEAKER_00 (06:22):
Well, I mean, that's the world we live in.
So obviously, I mean, you mustfind it interesting because it
sounds like you're kind of theSwiss army knife person when it
comes to the number of differentthings that you're confronted
with.
SPEAKER_03 (06:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
But, you know, no man is anisland, right?
We have a very solid team hereat Informed, and I rely on the
expertise of, you know, those onmy teams and those leaders in
the other functions in ourcompany.
You know, robust quality programhelps a lot.
I mean, that keeps my job to,you know, a bare minimum, right?
Quality first and, you know,legal last.
You know, like fund them, andthen you don't have to fund me,
(06:57):
right?
SPEAKER_00 (06:58):
That's worth repeating.
Quality first, legal last.
I love that phrase.
Yeah, I hadn't heard thatbefore.
That's a great way of puttingit.
That's good.
What was your career path thatgot you to inform data and doing
all the things you're doing?
SPEAKER_03 (07:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, when I was in seventhgrade, I started with a paper
route in my neighborhood, me anda buddy.
Just kidding.
Just kidding.
I actually got into the space in1998.
I think it was when everyone wasriding around in horse-drawn
buggies, and we werecommunicating via Morse code, I
believe is the way we did that,if I recall correctly back then.
But I was a young lawyer, a newlaw school graduate who had sat
(07:35):
for the bar exam, but waswaiting on results.
When I answered an advertisementin a small mountain town in
Colorado I was living in,because I to eat while I waited
for my bar exam results.
And it was actually for afast-growing background check
company.
Some of the old-timers in thisindustry were called HR Plus,
now part of the First AdvantageSterling Empire.
(07:55):
But we were a family-ownedcompany, started in a small
mountain town, Evergreen,Colorado, just above Denver.
And they were looking for help.
They were growing rapidly andhad a lot of administrative
needs internally.
So I answered a non-legal jobadvertisement, got the interview
to my and came in, interviewed,met the husband and wife team,
(08:17):
Doug and Janet Han, fantasticpeople.
And they told me a lot abouttheir company, their industry,
their growth trajectory, whatthey were projecting for growth.
Sounded really interesting tome.
They indicated a need foressentially like almost a
general manager role, and theyneeded help with all their
(08:37):
internal sort of compliancefunctions, things like writing
an employee handbook, puttingtogether employment policies,
documenting their existingoperating procedures and
policies, reviewing theircontracts and rewriting those.
And I think the thing thattipped it over for me in terms
of getting an offer there wasthe fact that the FCRA had been
amended something like threetimes in the preceding four
(09:00):
years.
And they were using somemountain town general legal
practitioner to do all of theircorporate matters, including
their FCRA compliance.
And let's just say it was alittle bit of a challenge for
the guy who when he hung up thephone with Doug going over like
a fair credit reporting actamendment, picked up the phone
and called his DUI clients,right?
(09:21):
Like, you know, as a generalpractitioner, one man law office
they were using.
So they said, you know, we'lltake a risk on you if you'll
take a risk on us, you know, hada very general role there, not
strictly legal.
I hadn't passed the bar examyet, or at least hadn't had the
results yet.
Fast forward a few months, I getthe bar exam results.
And this is my really funnystory.
Doug Hahn slides business cardsare across his desk and I look
(09:44):
at them one at a time andthey're all corporate counsel
for other background checkindustry companies.
And I'm like, what's this for?
This is the day I'm gettingsworn into the Colorado bar.
And he says, well, pick yourtitle.
And I'm like, what?
He's like, which one of thesetitles do you like?
Like, congratulations, youpassed the bar.
I'm going to order your businesscards today.
(10:05):
You know, we want to offer you acouncil role in our organization
if we're busted up for you tostay here after you pass the
bar.
And I looked at all the cards.
I wish I could remember thenames because I'm sure some of
these folks are still in theindustry.
And I remember looking at thecards and I said, any of these
titles?
And he said, yes.
And I literally had my licensefor about an hour at this point,
right?
And hadn't even been sworn inyet.
(10:25):
So I guess they technicallydidn't have it at all.
And I said, I kind of like thisone right here.
He said, general counsel.
And I'm like, yeah.
And he said, okay, we'll dothat.
And so my first job in theindustry and my first job as a
licensed attorney was generalcounsel for a rapidly growing
family owned CRA in the mountaintown of Evergreen, Colorado.
SPEAKER_00 (10:47):
Well, and for those of you that are maybe new to the
industry, I mean, if you're notfamiliar with HR Plus and Doug
Hahn and that organization, Imean, they were, that's really
the ground floor.
They were, that was a happeningfirm that was back in the late,
mid, late 90s.
And I mean, that was quite anorganization, as I recall.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_03 (11:04):
really well run, you know, quality, accuracy,
compliance first, you know,built a great reputation, you
know, high touch, high quality,much like ESR was.
SPEAKER_00 (11:14):
I don't think so.
Yeah.
I remember talking to Doug.
I thought he was a great guy.
And that must have been reallyexciting.
So you were there on the groundfloor writing the first
procedure manuals and qualitycontrol and just basically doing
it all,
SPEAKER_03 (11:26):
right?
Yes.
Yeah.
As we all did in the smallstartup organizations, right?
SPEAKER_00 (11:30):
Yeah.
Oh, that's amazing.
And then at some point they soldand then you.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (11:36):
So, you know, late in my role there, you know,
again, I was general counsel,but really we were small enough
where I was really just thegeneral executive.
And the part of the job that Ireally came to enjoy the most
was supporting this, the salesteam.
Right.
So we had quite a quiet clientlist.
You know, we were a larger CRAat the time and we had a marquee
customer list.
(11:56):
And most of the organizationsthat we went after, you know, we
hunted elephants was really whatwe did.
And, you know, I got intohelping the sales leadership
write and respond to RFPs.
And I really enjoyed that.
And then when we would, youknow, make it to the
presentation round of the RFPprocess, they often would ask me
to help, believe it or not, inthe face-to-face presentation
(12:17):
aspect of the RFP process,right?
I mean, poor judgment on theirpart, but hey, you know, slim
pickings in Evergreen, Colorado,you know what I'm saying?
So anyway, I started to do that,you know, right the RFPs with
the sales teams, present theRFPs and our capabilities to
prospective customers in thelater rounds of the RFP process.
And I really enjoyed that.
And, you know, found myself sortof rethinking my career path,
(12:40):
right?
Did I want to just be anattorney, you know, in this
space that I just want to be,you know, corporate counsel,
that sort of thing?
Or did I want to do somethingbroader, you know, in the
industry?
And so I started myself downthat path with them.
And then the person I came toknow and trust and respect in
the industry through thefounding of of NAPBS reached out
to me when I found myself as afree agent after HR Plus sold
(13:02):
the private equity.
And I went to work for thisdelightful gentleman in Northern
California for a little while.
He took a chance on me doing ahybrid compliance and sales
role.
And then based on his faith andtrust, I think others in the
industry later took a similarchance on me as I, you know,
kind of grew from, you know,people used to think of me as a
lawyer only, you know,compliance first person into
(13:24):
like a broader executive in thescreening industry.
And that segued itself into arole running software provider
to the background checkindustry.
One of the largest softwareproviders.
third party platforms.
Did that for a little while.
And then about 13 years ago,landed at Lowers Risk Group.
At the time we had a CRA calledProforma.
And then we had wholesalescreening solutions amongst
(13:46):
several other businesses outsideof the screening space.
So I came in there in a, like afull VP of sales role across all
of the operating entities.
Did that for a number of years.
And then I joked that I grewmyself out of a sales leadership
role, right?
Like I did a good enough jobwhere we could afford to hire a
true, you know, expert salesleader.
(14:08):
And they were nice enough todecide to keep me on in a legal
leadership role.
So, you know, that's my fullpath back and forth between
compliance and sales.
And then obviously in some ofthe, you know, some of these
organizations were small enoughwhere I also had, you know, more
of a broad operations andtechnology role.
SPEAKER_00 (14:25):
Oh, that's fascinating.
And just out of curiosity, thegentleman you mentioned in
Northern California, that guyremembers like incredibly good
looking, incredibly smart.
SPEAKER_03 (14:33):
Yes, I think some consider him, you know, an icon
in the industry and perhaps theonly reason PBSA exists today.
For those of you unfamiliar withthis gentleman, his name is Les
Rosen.
SPEAKER_00 (14:45):
Oh, that's me.
I knew it sounded familiar, butI'd just been diagnosed with a
medical condition called CRS.
I can't remember stuff.
And so I knew what you saidsounded familiar, but, oh, that
was me who was a gentleman inNorthern California.
Okay.
I appreciate that.
Yes, yes.
Oh, that was great.
Those were great times.
Definitely.
(15:06):
Good stuff.
So basically, I mean, it's justa fascinating journey you've
had.
And also just the length andbreadth and depth of the things
you've done is really amazing.
You know, based on that, one ofmy standard questions, and I'll
put it to you.
Is there a lesson that youlearned early in your career or
at some point in your careerthat stuck with you and that
kind of stands out as somethingthat, oh yeah, that's good to
(15:29):
know?
SPEAKER_03 (15:31):
Yeah.
Well, it's funny, you know,you've been in this space long
enough to know this as well,less than I think some of the
other old timers like you and Iare familiar with this as well.
You know, this industry, likemany industries at the end of
the day, you know, when you kindof understand it and spend
enough time in it is a verysmall industry, right?
It's, you know, everyone knows,you know, each other knows of
each other.
If you don't know somebody, youknow, somebody who does, right?
(15:54):
And early in my career, I met, Ithink, the Hans being examples
of this, yourself being exampleof this.
You know, I met people, I wasfortunate enough to have people
around me in this space whowere, who had built reputations
based on trust and integrity,who knew the importance of their
reputation.
And I think one of the earlylessons I learned is, you know,
even in an industry where youhave some anonymity, the
(16:17):
importance of, you know,integrity and the importance of,
and the value of your reputationis perhaps the most valuable
thing that you have andsomething that you can lose
easily and gain back with agreat deal of difficulty.
So for the younger people outthere just starting their
careers in this space, not justbecause of its size, but because
(16:38):
it's the right thing to do, bemindful of your reputation and
your integrity and how youoperate, whether that's with
your colleagues, your vendors,your customers, or the person
holding the door for you at thePVSA conference hotel as you
enter.
mentor, right?
Being a, you know, a personwho's respectful to others and
somebody thinks of when theythink of trust and integrity is
(17:02):
really core to your success.
SPEAKER_00 (17:04):
Boy, that's such a great observation.
And I really love the fact that,you know, the way you say it
extends not just to yourco-workers, your employer, but
your competitors, your friends,customers, applicants,
consumers, waiters andwaitresses and restaurants, just
everybody.
The lesson to be learned is totreat everybody right.
I think that's just such a greatobservation.
(17:24):
I appreciate that.
What do you enjoy most about thebackground screening industry?
I mean, you obviously were atalented guy, and you could be
in any industry you wanted to.
What keeps you in the backgroundindustry?
What attracts you, or what doyou find interesting about it?
SPEAKER_03 (17:37):
It's actually funny.
I have a 14-year-old son who's,you know, a bit of a nerd.
He's actually in a STEM programout here in Virginia.
And the path he's on that hewants to stay on is computer
science.
And so we were having aconversation the other day about
like what in that area does, youknow, does he want to do?
And, you know, he was explainingit to me and I knew what he was
talking about shockingly to him,I think.
(17:57):
And we had a, you know, he's 14,right?
Turning 15.
So we're in the dad's an idiotstage of our relationship,
right?
So, and oh yeah, sure, dad, youdid things like this too, what
back in the stone age right soyou know i figure i got 10 years
more of that and then i realizedyou know that there is actually
some wisdom in his father butanyway we were talking about
that and i think he wassurprised that sort of my
(18:19):
fluency if you will with respectto you know things tech right
and just to be clear i'm not acoder you know i'm not to that
level but i do know how all thepieces fit together fairly well
and you know i was saying to himthat what I've liked about what
I do today.
Don't get me wrong.
I like some of the lawyer stuff,too.
But what I really like aboutwhat I do today and where this
(18:41):
industry has evolved over timeis, you know, like that
intersection or that crossroadsbetween like legal compliance,
policy compliance andtechnology, you know, like like
being able to get with adevelopment team and spec and
then, you know, test and use,you know, a piece of software
that helps, you know, informdata, be more compliance, helps
(19:02):
our customers and theircustomers stay in compliance,
like that's pretty exciting tome.
We built a couple of tools, youknow, without revealing a lot of
detail in our IP here, but webuilt two tools here that I'm
particularly proud of that arejust examples of that sort of
crossroads.
We call one heightened risk.
And so this stems from There wasa lawsuit back a few years ago.
(19:25):
I'll leave the names of theguilty out of the equation, but
there was a lawsuit severalyears ago, probably a decade or
more ago now, where a larger CRAin our space had made the same
repeated mistake on the sameconsumer across multiple
employers over a relativelyshort period of time.
They would correct it.
in instance one and thenrepeated in instance two,
(19:46):
corrected in instance two,repeated in instance three.
This happened at least fourtimes.
It might have been six, I can'trecall, but over a relatively
short period of time.
Well, you know, the guy waswilling to be, you know,
forgiving the first couple oftimes.
Eventually he got fed up, fileda lawsuit, and there was a
pretty significant seven, lowseven figure settlement.
And I remember that happened, Ibelieve, around when I started
(20:10):
at Lauer's Risk Group WholesaleScreening Solutions.
And I said to the leadershipthere, like, hey, we need to
prevent this from occurring.
And if we do this at wholesale,You know, this benefits all of
our CRM customers, you know,from, you know, having a repeat
occurrence of a defect.
Right.
And so we built a tool, we callit heightened risk.
And basically what it does is itcontrols that.
(20:32):
So we have various settingswhere we can set it broadly.
And we say like, oh, anytimeVince Pasquarelli comes across,
he's a problem child.
We're going to do like a thirdor fourth round of quality
assurance, right?
It comes into a special queuemanaged by like, you know, our
senior most teammates that dolike quality review and they
make sure that, you know, basedon, you know, details we have
(20:52):
about the initial defect that wedon't repeat that defect.
And we can dial that up or down,you know, we could talk about a
specific case in a specificcourt for a specific consumer,
or we can say this consumer ingeneral, you know, is a concern
because of the complexity of theissue the first time or for some
other reason, right?
Heightened scrutiny is a tool webuilt here at Informed Data,
(21:12):
which is essentially intendedto, so the two most common sort
of defects, if you will, ifyou're a wholesaler like us or a
CRA, right, are, you know, amismatch on identifiers or
calling someone a felon whenthey're not, right?
They're arrested for a felony,but it gets amended to a
misdemeanor.
And so, you know, we haveaddressed the latter common
(21:35):
defect.
I mean, not common like ithappens a lot, but common like
when a defect happens, it'soften this type of a defect,
right?
Just because the way dockets arestructured and all of that.
But we built the tool that says,you know, hey, what do we know
about felonies or what do weknow about misdemeanors that are
unique to felonies or unique tomisdemeanors that can't be you
know, are there aspects of thiscase detail that means it must
(21:57):
be a felony or it can't be afelony, right?
And so we're rolling this out,you know, jurisdiction by
jurisdiction, because there areuniquenesses, you know, in the
dockets that are specific to,you know, either a whole state
in a consolidated court systemor in an individual court for a
non-consolidated jurisdiction.
And we say like, hey, if it hitson this and there's an
abnormality where we're callingit a felony, but it can't be a
(22:20):
felony based on these ruleswe've created, it goes into a
special Right.
So you could
SPEAKER_00 (22:26):
raise a red flag based upon any number of
factors.
You know, you and I are bothlawyers, so we don't need to go
into all the poor people, allthe details.
But yeah, when you dig into it,you could find what those flags
are.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (22:40):
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But building that stuff is thefun part, right?
Like thinking it through andfiguring out like, Hey, you
know, you can build it this wayand it'll cost like a million
dollars and take 10 years to do,or you can build it, you know,
slowly this way and it costs youlike, you know, a thousand
dollars a month for a year.
And, you know, what's the systemcapable of and, you know, how do
I get priority in thedevelopment queue for this, you
(23:01):
know, based on how you kind ofstructure it.
And that part's just fascinatingto me and super interesting.
UNKNOWN (23:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:06):
Yeah, I mean, what you described is the journey
that we're all familiar with.
I mean, trying to do things andcompeting for development time
and, you know, the costbenefits.
So, yeah, I mean,intellectually, it is very
interesting.
It's always a challenge.
So it keeps you busy, right?
Definitely.
Yeah, yeah.
That's why when I knew you, youused to have a full head of
(23:26):
hair.
And I think, no, I'm justkidding.
That's right.
Like I'm one to talk, right?
Well,
SPEAKER_03 (23:32):
it's funny.
I mean, I was actually thinkingabout when prepping for this
conversation, you know, like howthis industry has evolved,
right?
And we're talking aboutdevelopment time and technical
specifications and qualitytesting of new software and all
of that.
But back when you and I started,I mean, gosh, I remember when I
walked into HR Plus for thatinterview, they had colored
(23:52):
files like adorning the office.
Like they were all like yellow,blue, green, you know, whatever.
And I remember asking, one ofthe first things I asked in the
interview was like, what's upwith the colored Manila folder?
You know, like the Manilafolders, but all different
colors.
And they're like, oh, those aredue dates.
I said, what do you mean thoseare due dates?
And like, well, we promise ourcustomers, you know, a two to
three day turnaround time.
(24:13):
And yellow means it's due onMonday.
Blue means it's due on Tuesday.
And then there were like orangefolders everywhere.
And I said, what are the orangefolders?
And they're like, oh, that'sU-Haul.
Which is like one of theirlargest customers at the time,
right?
So they have their own folders.
And I'm like, so how comethey're not by date?
And they're like, we get theU-Haul folders out as quickly as
(24:34):
we can.
SPEAKER_00 (24:36):
That's amazing.
We all have those stories fromthe early days.
We used to have files by thedate the order came in.
So Monday was blue because it'sBlue Monday.
And if a Monday file was stillsitting there Wednesday, I mean,
someone better pay attention toit.
That's right.
And people in the industry now,particularly with the data back,
are like, what are you peopletalking about?
(24:56):
How is it even possible to buildmillion dollar firms with blue
folders?
And we did it.
When I
SPEAKER_03 (25:02):
first got there, everything was faxed, right?
You would fax the court.
Like SJV was, you know, one ofmy vendors at HR Plus back in
like 1999, right?
Scott Vanek, when he was astartup wholesaler in the
industry, we were one of his,you know, early accounts or
whatever.
And, you know, we would fax himorders.
He would fax us results back,right?
Like literally like paper wouldcome out of the fax machine with
(25:23):
the results.
Somebody would pay pick it up,put it in a folder, bring it
over for data entry, right?
And I remember when we installedWriteFax, like it was like 1999
or, you know, 2000, I'd beenthere for like a year, you know,
maybe two or whatever.
And we installed WriteFax andfor those youngins on the,
watching the podcast today,WriteFax basically digitized the
fax.
So it would still come in viafax, but it would digitize the
(25:45):
paper.
So you didn't have to like pickup a piece of paper and move it
into a folder.
You could pick up the piece ofpaper, but what we used to do,
we use WriteFax, you could printit at your desk.
Instead of having to walk overto the FC, put it back in the
folder, right?
At the time, that
SPEAKER_00 (25:59):
was a leap.
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (26:01):
And it's interesting.
You were in the HR plus.
The FCRA was amendedsubstantially for employment
purposes in 96, effective 97.
It was just a total, huge,shattering, earth-changing
changes in how it all handled.
And then some changes since.
You really were there from thebeginning.
And that makes it reallyinteresting, that type of
(26:23):
perspective.
Back to that.
Do you remember the, you werethe
SPEAKER_03 (26:25):
pocket constitutions less, you know, the little
constitutions.
So we had a pocket FCRA at HRPlus.
SPEAKER_00 (26:33):
All right.
And those were the days, andagain, a lot of people go, what
are you talking about?
When we all read and studied andlooked at the tea leaves that
were contained in the FTC staffopinion letters.
And those were the signs that wewould look at to figure out what
to do.
I mean, interesting.
And, you know, sometimes I askabout changes and challenges,
but I think you've covered that,right?
Yeah.
So- Looking back at your careerin the background screening
(26:56):
industry, what actually do youlook back and say to yourself,
God, that was cool?
I mean, it brings a smile toyour face as an accomplishment
or a challengement or somethingthat you go, yeah, that was a
good one.
SPEAKER_03 (27:10):
Yeah, I think two things really stand out to me.
You know, one's personal andone's more like sort of team
oriented, right?
So I'll do the personal onefirst.
So I think it was like around2005 or something, you know, you
know, found myself, you know, atthis sort of like crossroads in
my career where I was like, do Iwant to stay in the industry?
You know, do I want to leave?
Do I want to do something on myown?
(27:31):
Do I want to work for someoneelse again?
Like that sort of a thing.
And I remember, you know,mentally setting a goal for
myself.
I want to lead a company in therole of like president or CEO
within the next five years,whether that's my own thing or
whether I, you know, do that forsomeone else who, you know, is
it where there's an impact onthe industry was if I was going
to do it for somebody else, Iwanted it to be, you know, an
(27:53):
interesting role that was likedifferent and new.
And that was like, you know,somewhere in the center of the
industry that would have, youknow, more of an impact on, you
know, an impact on more thanjust one organization.
Right.
And lo and behold, exactly fiveyears later, I joined Clearstar
as president.
And I just remember like, youknow, when I hung up the phone
with Bob Vail and, you know,knew that offer was coming, I
(28:15):
just said to him, I alwayssmiled at myself, you know,
like, like you said to yourselffive years, you know, and you
wanted something like this andhere it is.
Right.
And so, you know, Thanks, Bob,for that opportunity and for
filling up a personal goal ofmine.
I, you know, definitely forevergrateful for that opportunity.
SPEAKER_00 (28:30):
That's great.
And what was the second one?
You said there was two of them.
SPEAKER_03 (28:33):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
The second one was honestly justthe trajectory and the path of
what is today informed data.
You know, when I joinedwholesale screening in, you
know, early 2012, you know, wewere a relatively small company.
I think if I had an employeenumber, it would be 34 or
something like that.
And that's across, you know, proforma wholesale in the remainder
of Lauer's Risk Group, right?
So we went from there to wherewe are today in a relatively
(28:56):
short timeframe.
I'm like forever proud of thataccomplishment.
I mean, the team The team we hadat Wholesale, the team we had
and have at Informedata, youknow, current and past teams at
both places were truly amazing.
I mean, I used to talk aboutthis whenever anybody would ask,
like, how did you guys do it?
And quite honestly, you know,back to like an earlier tenant I
(29:18):
was talking about, I mean, trustand integrity.
I mean, we trusted each other,you know, we knew we could rely
on the word of one another andit was just, you know, it is and
remains a really fun ride, youknow, with a lot of great
people.
You know, people have come andgone, but I think the one core
trait of, you know, both I thinklegacy organizations, SJV and
(29:38):
wholesale and, you know, what istoday informed data has been the
quality and the caliber of thepeople from a competency
standpoint, but also from acharacter integrity perspective
as well.
Just a lot of great people.
SPEAKER_00 (29:52):
That's fantastic.
And your ride there continues.
I mean, you're still involved inall the things that are
happening and transforming andall the new things that are
occurring.
So that must be fun as well.
SPEAKER_03 (30:03):
Yeah, yeah, it's great.
And that, you know, theevolution of technology in
general in this space has beenfascinating to watch and, you
know, like the new frontier nowis AI, right?
And then, you know, adopting theuse of that throughout our
organization for the bettermentof ourselves and the betterment
of our customers and theircustomer customers, and
ultimately the consumer doingreally exciting and interesting
things, you know, along thoselines, it's never a dull moment,
(30:25):
right?
It's been an opportunity to kindof grow, you know, from my own
sort of knowledge set every yearis a little bit different.
There's something new,interesting and challenging and
and new things to learn anddiscover and play around with.
And it's definitely still anexciting industry.
SPEAKER_00 (30:40):
I mean, the story you told earlier about your son
being impressed that youactually knew about some of this
stuff, it just reminded me ofthe old story that you get
smarter as your kids get older.
That's all right.
That's right.
That's right.
They get to a stage where,you're not as dumb as I thought.
That's all right.
But you have to live throughthat
SPEAKER_03 (30:58):
stage.
SPEAKER_00 (31:00):
All right.
SPEAKER_03 (31:00):
You're a hero until they're like 12, and then you're
an idiot until they're 24,right?
You're
SPEAKER_00 (31:05):
right.
And then at 24, they becomeinteresting, and you become
interesting, too.
them again.
But like they said in The LionKing, it's the cycle of life.
What are you going to do?
So you mentioned PBSA, and Iappreciate your comments about
PBSA and my role in that and soforth.
But let's talk about your rolein PSA, because I remember you
and PBSA from the very beginningand at conferences and
(31:28):
presenting.
Tell us what the role of PBSAhas been in your career.
SPEAKER_03 (31:32):
Yeah, yeah.
It's been really instrumental, Ithink, in my career path.
I mean, first got involved inPBSA before it was even NAPVS,
right?
Like there was a small group offolks, you recall, you were the
leader amongst them, you know,who decided that this was a need
in the industry.
We were approached, HR Plus wasapproached by that core group
that I think at the ClearwaterPre-Employment Screeners
(31:54):
Conference had originally comeup with like this idea, this
concept.
And we were approached andinitially we were a little
skeptical, like, you Like, isthis something we want to do?
Does this have legs?
You know, is this a good ideafor us?
Is this going to be good for theindustry or not?
And so we were a little bit slowto kind of adopt that.
So we weren't directly involvedin sort of like the formation of
(32:16):
it, but we did wisen up in timeto make the first actual
conference that was held inScottsdale in 2003.
I think that was, that's right.
And so we were a foundingmember.
I think we were like a very lateround, like just under the
whistle founding member, but wedid, we had We were able to put
that moniker on our marketingmaterials.
So we made it to the dance.
(32:37):
And just from the moment, youknow, that I walked into that
really tiny hotel in Scottsdale.
And obviously I knew youalready.
I recall we may have beensupporting you with your drug
testing at some point.
And I think we met that wayoriginally.
SPEAKER_01 (32:50):
Right, exactly.
That's right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (32:52):
Yeah.
And then I knew of you more thanI knew you.
I think we had emailed andtalked on the phone, but I don't
think we'd ever met in person.
And, you know, from the momentwe walked into that space, I
mean, I still have relationshipsfrom that first day.
you know, in this industry, youknow, obviously you amongst
them, but the caliber and thequality of the people in that
room was so high, you know, atthat conference and the energy
level was so exciting that, youknow, we knew we made the right
(33:14):
decision in doing that, youknow, the Hans and I, right?
So I was the only non-Hanpresent at the early NAPBS
events, which was great becauseit allowed me to meet everybody
because they would go out forfamily dinners and I would be
left alone, not knowing anyoneand, you know, looking for
friends, right?
So got involved early, I thinkthe first two years that NAPBS,
the predecessor that PBSAexisted.
I was fortunate enough toco-chair what is now Industry
(33:37):
Practices.
I think it was called BestPractices or Compliance and Best
Practices or something like thatback then.
SPEAKER_00 (33:43):
Yeah, I don't remember.
I just remember the night beforeit started, I just made up some
committees.
I said, yeah, well, here's somecommittees.
Let's see how that works.
And that was one of them.
That's right.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:52):
Right, right.
Yeah, because you were probablyup all night with it.
You had three, four hours ofsleep, right?
Yeah.
For those of you that don'tknow, Les does more work between
midnight and 6 a.m.
than most of us do in a week.
Like, it's insane.
So probably still tenetic, Ithink this is true.
I don't know how he does it, butit was impressive to see the
(34:12):
amount of work.
and the quality of it that comesinto my inbox at three in the
morning.
But yeah, like, so that was thebeginning of, you know, my
involvement with any PBS, PBSAand, you know, every company
that I, you know, moved to inthis industry was a result of
the relationships I builtthrough, you know, my
involvement with PBSA.
A lot of my, you know,leadership experiences were
(34:35):
through that organization.
It's really just a greatorganization, particularly for
people that are new to theindustry or earlier career.
You know, I got to do thingslike government relations that I
never would have gotten anopportunity to do without, you
know, my involvement with PBSA.
You know, I got to do thingsoutside of really like what my
core function happened to be atthe time.
A lot of opportunities to learnnew things and really understand
(34:56):
how all the pieces fit together,whether that's like the vendors
or, you know, the softwares or,you know, the technology or, you
know, all the ins and outs ofthe industry.
Just a great place to learn.
SPEAKER_00 (35:08):
And I know you presented it.
You and I were on Tony and theTime Bomb together, right?
Yes, yes.
Art Cohen's concoction.
Yes.
Putting together mock trialswith Tony the Time Bomb being
the bad guy.
Can we get away with that
SPEAKER_03 (35:23):
today?
That seems like not politicallycorrect to call the job
applicant Tony Time Bomb.
I think that was
SPEAKER_00 (35:28):
a real simple times list.
Yeah, different world.
We probably wouldn't do thattoday.
We'd be like, Tony, give him achance.
I mean, today would be secondchance, Tony.
You're right.
But that's right.
I guess it was in Tennessee.
It was at Nashville.
We put together like athree-hour trial or something.
(35:49):
And you were, I can't rememberwhat all the roles were.
SPEAKER_03 (35:52):
Oh, I do.
I remember.
And here's why I remember.
There were, I think everybodyinvolved was a lawyer, except
only three of us could be thelawyers in the room, right?
So Art Cohen was the judge.
And so the three litigators theychose, right, were Les Rosen,
Pam Davada, and VincePascarella.
Let me tell you a little bit ofsomething about the caliber of
the litigation experience.
(36:13):
So Les is like a careerlitigator, right?
Like for those of you that don'tknow, right, he cut his teeth,
you know, as both a prosecutorand a defense attorney, like a
lot of trial room experience.
Pam Devada speaks for herself.
I don't need to say much there.
And then me.
So I got to go.
And I was representing the CRA.
So I'm litigation counsel forthe Consumer Reporting Agency.
I don't know who came up withthis idea, Art Cohen, but I'm
(36:35):
pretty sure it was you.
And then I have to go up againstPam Devada and Les Rosen.
Let me tell you something.
That was a really intimidatingexperience.
And then Art Cohen acted like anactual judge.
He appropriately harummed fromthe bench.
Oh, God.
Right.
And then Art's also a veryexperienced litigator.
So it was good time for Vince.
I'm pretty sure the CRA losttheir, didn't they go out of
business as a result of theirlitigation counsel?
SPEAKER_00 (36:58):
I'm not sure, but Jason Morris brought Tony the
Time Bomb back a couple yearsago.
We did it again, and I can'tremember who, but there's a
whole cast of lawyers who wereinvolved in that.
Yes, I attended that.
SPEAKER_03 (37:08):
That was great.
SPEAKER_00 (37:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You managed to keep a lowprofile and not get picked as
one of the attorneys this time.
Yeah, I actually, I told Jason,no way.
Yeah, really.
And I said, I don't want to doany work.
I'm going to be the judge.
That's right.
I'm not going to actuallyprepare anything.
It was a great group of people.
That was really fun.
So let's move away frombackground screening and PBSA.
(37:31):
Mr.
Vince Pasquarello, tell us alittle bit about yourself
outside of background screeningand some of your hobbies and
interests and things you like todo for fun.
Well, my interests includebreakdancing.
Just kidding.
Yeah, I don't mean you broke aleg dancing.
That's what it
SPEAKER_03 (37:50):
sounds like.
SPEAKER_00 (37:51):
Yeah, I think that's coming for
SPEAKER_03 (37:53):
sure.
But I actually dabble in thesport.
I'm like the woman in theOlympics there.
Did you see that at all?
Like the
SPEAKER_00 (38:01):
dancer from Australia, right?
SPEAKER_03 (38:03):
Yeah, exactly.
That's about my speed, my stylethere.
But I'm like a fitness person.
I work out regularly.
I do some road cycling, enjoysnowboarding and hiking,
although I do miss living inColorado where it's a heck of a
lot easier to do that than it ishere on the East Coast.
And I recently got remarried, soI went from being a single dad
(38:24):
of two to a father of six with aginormous family of cousins and
aunts and uncles, all locals.
So it's been a really fun changeon a personal level from
spending a lot of time alone orjust with my two children to now
my six children and theircousins and aunts and uncles and
grandparents all locally.
So that's been fun over the lastfive years.
SPEAKER_00 (38:46):
Good for you.
Congratulations.
That's fantastic.
How old is your daughter?
SPEAKER_03 (38:50):
My daughter is a sophomore in college.
She just turned 20 a littlewhile ago, but now I have three
daughters, 23, 20, 20, and threesons, 22, 18.
SPEAKER_00 (38:59):
Daughter that I knew as like a two or three-year-old,
like a little tyke, is now asophomore in college.
SPEAKER_03 (39:04):
Yeah, she's studying Italian, actually.
Yeah, she's going to do a summerprogram in Italy, and then she's
looking at a master's programthat will put her back in Italy
for a whole year.
So, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (39:15):
Well, I mean, it's not like you're making me feel
old, but I can remember when shecould barely walk, and now she's
doing a summer program in Italy,and it's like, okay,
SPEAKER_03 (39:24):
right.
SPEAKER_00 (39:24):
Yeah, if I'm remembering
SPEAKER_03 (39:25):
right, didn't your daughter babysit her once?
SPEAKER_00 (39:27):
It could be.
Wow.
Boy, that puts life inperspective.
It really does.
Well, okay.
I guess I didn't realize thatyou had that big of a family
going.
That's fantastic.
So in addition to everythingelse, to the Informed Data
family that takes up a lot oftime, you have your family
family.
SPEAKER_03 (39:46):
Oh, yeah.
And it's funny.
They're super close.
So when we get together, there'sliterally 30 of us.
And so it's like a smallwedding, like a Sunday, roughly
every other month, right?
And then we do a big beach houserental every summer with the 30
of us.
And now the older cousins, ofcourse, are all starting to
date.
So you get like boyfriends andgirlfriends making like
appearances and Sometimes it's ahouse of 40, so it's fun.
SPEAKER_00 (40:09):
And you're sitting on top of all that going, oh, my
word.
Yes, my life was so simple whenit was me and my two, right?
Yeah, right.
Well, I really appreciate yourtime here.
I can do this all day, but letme wrap it up with a couple
final questions.
Time to play Fun Facts.
Tell us something about yourselfthat people may not know or
(40:30):
realize, completely unrelated tobackground screening.
Vince Pasquarello, what's yoursecret?
My
SPEAKER_03 (40:36):
secret?
I have no secrets.
I'm an open book, as everyone inthis space knows.
But a little known fact, Iguess, would be I started my
college career as a fine artsmajor, drawing and painting
specifically.
Chose my undergraduate collegebased on the strength of the
fine arts program.
And when I got there and saw thetalent around me, I got really
(40:56):
scared and decided I was, youknow, the starving artist was
not a good look and shiftedgears into political science,
which led me to law schooleventually.
So All right.
I mean,
SPEAKER_00 (41:10):
that is so funny.
I mean, I know a lot of lawyerswho started off as something
different.
It's like, I think law school.
SPEAKER_03 (41:18):
Yeah, I played with Sommelier, actually.
I went to undergrad in theHamptons and worked in like
three and four star restaurantsand, you know, enjoy wine and
everything that comes with it.
And I took the hangover, Isuppose.
And I literally, you know, Itook a year, I took a gap year
in between undergrad and lawschool and worked in a
restaurant out there known forits wine list.
And we had a Sommelier and andwe became friends and I, you
(41:40):
know, was this close.
You know, when it was time toleave for Boulder, Colorado, for
U.S.
Colorado Law School, I almostdidn't do it, like, because I
was, this close to going downthe path of sommelier, master
sommelier.
Wow, did you start the sommelierprogram?
I didn't, but there's a program,I think it's on Netflix or
(42:01):
something, that all of myrestaurant friends say is an
absolute must.
So I think it would scare meoff, honestly.
It's probably a harder path thanlaw school.
SPEAKER_00 (42:11):
Oh, no, becoming a sommelier is insane.
And, you know, all the, youknow, tasting.
You know, I've always lovedthose James Bond novels where he
would taste a wine and say,oh...
a 43 something or other from theupper field of this vineyard or
something or other.
Like, really?
Right, right, right.
Sounds good.
I forgot about that because Iremember talking to you about
(42:32):
your near career as a sommelier.
And I think we talked about thatonce.
You took me out for like one ofthe best dinners I ever remember
to an Italian steakhouse inChicago.
I remember that.
Yeah, we ordered the left sideof the menu.
That's right.
Yeah, the SHRM conference Iremember.
Yeah, exactly.
And I think what happened wasyou said, well, you're paying.
I said, Okay, left side of themenu, please.
And he's like, more food than Iknew existed.
(42:57):
It's like, oh my God, that wasgreat.
But you're awesome.
Weren't you originally fromSyracuse or someplace that got
25 feet of snow during thewinter?
SPEAKER_03 (43:06):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I grew up in Syracuse, went tocollege on Eastern Long Island
and I kind of lived all overthough.
I've been with tumbleweed afterhigh school and you know, lived
on and off.
So I, my kids are impressed bythis statistic.
I think I've lived in likesomething like 19 addresses in.
You know, 14 cities and sevenstates in my lifetime, so.
(43:27):
Been kicked out of.
I'm not sure I follow.
Oh, I see.
Well, it's funny.
People are always like, militaryfamily or witness protection,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (43:34):
Closer to witness protection is the answer.
Oh, all right.
Well, this, I could keep doingthis forever.
This is like a lot of fun.
And there's so many things.
Here, I've known you a longtime.
I thought I knew all about you.
And there's just, it's just, youknow, the insights and the
stories are just fantastic.
This has been really fun.
So before we sign off, a coupleof Last questions.
You kind of hit a little bit,but let me just put it right to
(43:56):
you directly.
If someone came to you and theywere thinking about entering the
screening profession or they'vebeen in it for a couple of years
or wondering if they shouldcontinue, what's your advice for
someone who's new or newish?
Run.
SPEAKER_03 (44:09):
Run.
SPEAKER_00 (44:10):
No,
SPEAKER_03 (44:11):
no, no.
I kid.
I kid.
I mean, back to some of thethings we talked about today.
I mean, you know, build anetwork.
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (44:18):
Like
SPEAKER_03 (44:19):
the way the puzzle pieces fit together in this
industry is fascinating by itsown right.
But there is a lot that isopaque.
I think to most people in theindustry, you know, there are a
lot of connections between likewhere the data originates, you
know, what the data is, who hasthe data, what data is
overlapping or the same, youknow, like all that stuff is
really fascinating.
(44:39):
And then how all like thetechnology pieces fit together
in the space, whether it's thescreening space or the drug
testing space is also just likefascinating you know, puzzle
when you understand and see howall those pieces fit together.
You know, the people part ofthat network is, you know,
really important.
There are a lot of really greatpeople, really smart people in
this space.
(44:59):
Listen to them, learn from them.
And then, you know, remember,you don't get your reputation
back once it's lost.
So, you know, operate aboveboard and do the right thing
and, you know, be a good person,right?
For a variety of reasons, both,you know, self-interest and
otherwise, right?
SPEAKER_00 (45:15):
Well, this has been a great conversation.
I really appreciated it.
And let me just ask you beforewe sign off to give you, as
sometimes I say on TV, let megive you the last word and we'll
close it out.
I'll make
SPEAKER_03 (45:27):
my last word simple.
Thank you, Les.
Thank you for your industryleadership.
Thank you for your example ofintegrity.
And foremost, thank you for yourfriendship.
SPEAKER_00 (45:37):
Vince, it's been a pleasure.
And ladies and gentlemen, thishas been a really fun episode of
Behind the Screens,conversations with background
pros.
And today's pro is a longtimefriend and a fantastic resource
in the screening industry, anextremely accomplished attorney.
You heard about it here, prettymuch the tip of the iceberg.
There's a lot more to know, butI think this has been a great
(45:58):
introduction.
It has been our pleasure to hearfrom Mr.
Vince Pascarella.
Thanks, Vince.
Thanks, Les.
All right, that was yet anotherwonderful conversation with a
background screening pro.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to hit subscribe so
(46:20):
you never miss an update.
And hey, if you got a moment,we'd love for you to leave us a
review.
It really helps get the wordout.
For more info or to catch up onpast episodes or to make
suggestions or to suggestpossible future guests, head
over to our website.
Once again, this is your host,Les Rosen, and it's been a
pleasure to bring you anotherepisode.
(46:42):
See you on the next episode.
Thanks.
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