PBSA

PBSA Journal PAGE 3 JAN/FEB 2025 Except where otherwise indicated, articles are copyright © by PBSA 2025. All rights reserved. 2024-25 Board of Directors Officers Tim Gordon Chair InfoMart Katie Hartley Chair-Elect Accurate Background Susie Thomson Secretary/Treasurer Security Watchdog Chad Ascar Immediate Past Chair DISA Directors Sachin Aggarwal A.M.S. Inform Private Ltd Chetan Desai SecureSearch Screening Services Pvt Ltd Melissa Foiles ILYM Consulting Andy Hellman REALi Data Solutions, LLC Katie Kulp Certn Scott Maloney Omni Data Retrieval Kathleen Nottingham HireRight Kellie O'Shea Creative Services, Inc. Bobby Shank Roundstone, Inc. 2025: The Year of Global Opportunity and Collaboration Continued from page 1 Councils, we believe customer awareness about PBSA and its membership will continue to grow exponentially. Taking customers/end users on an awareness journey on the benefits of contracting with a trusted PBSA member company has never been more important, not only to promote the high standards of our membership but also to educate customers on our industry and processes followed with us as trusted partners. Customers have historically had minimal access to expert information about background checking. Certainly, outside of US there is no recognised home for the 'voice' of the customer of background checking services. In response to that, we are pleased to share that the 2024 launch of our End User Certificate programme within US has been a resounding success and e plan to expand that in 2025. To find out more about the End User Certificate program please go to our website. Change is also in the air in 2025; the rise and rise of AI versus traditional human intervention in our working practices is just one example how our industry is transforming at pace and beyond our wildest dreams. Many PBSA members are already on their AI journey, benefitting from the obvious efficiencies and creating new experiences for their customers. It is not beyond our imagination to consider a future world of background screening where spectacle-type wearables exist for interviewers with an embedded face search engine and Chat-GPT-type tool to create a near instantaneous face-recognition system offering home address, employment histories and telephone numbers! Roll back the clock 30 years ago to a time when a fax machine was a source of excitement! At the same time, our industry is a observing a global increase in regulation and data protection to protect the rights of the individual and their data. This is exactly why PBSA membership collaboration on the AI revolution and other initiatives with an open exchange of ideas is going to be so important to help us successfully embrace change together as an industry. I encourage members to use the many PBSA learning and collaboration tools and forums available to stay informed, learn more about trends, domestic and global, and navigate change - our Global Learning Centre, our on-point global webinar programmes and series of 'lunch and learn' sessions are open to all our members and provide invaluable insights about a range of dynamic topics, enabling all of us to learn and adapt. 2025 is also the year the PBSA Board of Directors conclude our current 3-year Strategic Plan with the key goals of advancing our volunteerism, global government affairs/ advocacy, global expansion and creating more diversified revenue streams. It's now time for us to reflect on our achievements, collaborate and create a new 3-year Strategic Plan for the PBSA and its membership, one that continues to represent the best interests of our members and build on the great progress we've already made. Bring on 2025! l Susie Thomson, Secretary/Treasurer

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