Bruce’s PBSA 2025 Annual Conference Report

PBSA 2025 Fall Conference

Anaheim, CA Oct 26-28, 2025

What a great conference. It was well attended with a highly spirited group of participants and so many new faces (over 20% first time attendees).  Attendance totaled 775, in line with past years.  The Exhibit Hall buzzed with activity throughout the event. Our booth stayed busy from start to finish, and I heard similar feedback from other exhibitors. Clearly, people came ready to connect and learn.

Sunday night’s opening ceremony was a full house. Chairperson Tim Gordon handed over the reins to new Chairperson Katie Hartley, who updated us on the organization’s status and future.

Then, we went into the Exhibit Hall for refreshments and networking. The layout of the Exhibit Hall was very spacious. As always, it was great to see everyone. Once again, many complained about the cold temperatures in the Exhibit Hall and, even more so, in the presentation rooms.  We can put a man on the moon, but we cannot moderate the temperature indoors ???!!!  Melissa??? Michelle?

After the Exhibit Hall concluded, the party started. The outdoor reception offered food trucks, an open bar, and lively discussions—though the chilly Southern California evening surprised everyone. No Beach Boys weather this time! And, of course, no dance floor… meaning it could only be a good party, not a great one.

All was not just fun and games. Over the two days of the conference, many critical, timely, and informative sessions were covered. This considerable investment in time and information from those presenting is provided to you as a member/attendee, making attendance an invaluable return on your small investment while supporting your Association. If you want more specifics on session topics, see the PBSA website, or better yet, be there next time.

Industry Trends

Sales Growth and Market Conditions. 

Not every CRA we spoke with is showing revenue growth this year, with things beginning to soften for many. Some companies said they are currently down as much as 20%, but most less than that, and several looked at me like I was crazy when I asked how much their sales were down because they were actually up dramatically.

There was considerable discussion regarding the factors contributing to the slowdown: the overall sluggishness of the economy, with many organizations adopting a ‘neither hire nor fire’ approach; significant workforce reductions at major technology firms and UPS; and concerns that advancements in Artificial Intelligence may lead to reduced hiring by replacing human roles.

For those seeking new job opportunities in the industry, remember there are over 500 CRAs (including several non-PBSA members) registered on the industry job board, and you can post your resume at no cost.  www.BackgroundScreeningJobs.com

Productivity improvements.

We heard a lot about the productivity improvements that smart CRAs are driving via technology. One provider told me they just created an API with a large CRA client that will eliminate three people—a huge savings.

Several exhibitors were pitching their capabilities in AI, whether for the CRA to make VOE calls, answering inbound customer service calls, doing financial analysis, processing orders, data extraction from court sites, writing RFPs or whatever. Are you ready to implement AI within your company? If not, it may be time to start thinking of an exit strategy.

New product offerings.

• For years, CRAs have offshored labor to India; but other countries are being found where the accented English is closer to North American accent; and there are several third parties that are offering to do offshore work for CRAs.
• AI generated employment verifications.
• New offering of Statewide search in IL (all counties; not the State Police report) and in CA (approx. 90% of all counties).

International:

CRAs seem to have more and more requests from clients for international searches.

Foreign-based screening companies are eagerly working to move outside their local area client base to capture volume in the vast US market.

Mergers & Acquisitions.

We heard from many companies about their interest in acquisitions, although we were also approached by those who were interested in current valuations and how we could help them in the process of selling. The industry is still very much in a sellers’ marketplace, with many more buyers than sellers; albeit the valuations are being negatively impacted by the lack of YoY sales growth in the industry and the overall concern for the large recent layoffs. Since January 1, 4286+ companies have announced layoffs including:

• UPS: 48,000 including 14,000 in management roles
• Nestle: 16,000
• Amazon:14,000
• Bosch: 13,000
• Dell: 12,000
• Accenture: 11,000
• Intel: 10,000
• Microsoft: 9,000
• Paramount: 2,000

I was a presenter on M&A at the conference.  We had a nice turnout despite being slotted 3PM-4PM on the last day! We talked about valuations, the process, recent deals in the industry and the value of engaging an intermediary.  I asked the attendees for a show of hands of how many owned CRAs and about 50 raised their hands of which about 35 said they were interested in buying and only one said they were interested in selling.  Thus, it appears to be still a sellers’ market.

We’ve noticed that as of late Q3 2025, M&A activity has started to pick up. More companies are looking to sell, and more companies are looking to have us do a business valuation; some of these were to just have a value but most were done to see if their value was enough to consider selling as an option.

Blockchain and AI.

Considering all the talk about blockchain over the past two years, I never even heard the word mentioned at the conference. Instead, AI took center stage, with 4–6 companies demonstrating practical tools and integrations.

My take: AI is for real.  It will (already has?) negatively impact on the number of hires in the future as your clients substitute AI for humans.  AI doesn’t need a CRA background check.  AI doesn’t have vacations, holidays, sick days, training and re-training of staff to do the tasks that AI can do.  Of course, if you start your AI journey right now, you will be able to maintain your profit levels even as your existing clients’ order volume decreases. Time to get busy!

Or, to quote Evan Zatt” “Seems like the show was entirely all about (and all talked about) AI. Seems like all types of providers are on board with it. Everyone is starting to assume and some panic that AI is going to instantly take jobs away from humans.

With that said, our advice on AI is the following:

• If you believe in AI, embrace it now.
• If you don’t, it may be time to sell.”

People, Places, Stuff

• Larry Henry was awarded the Mike Sankey Award for contributions to the industry and PBSA. Congrats, Larry!
• Nick Fishman is back with IQubed.
• Vince Brodt is now with TNDM.AI along with Wade Hudson, Bill Wilder and Justin Cameron.
• Alan Lasky has left Universal Background Screening for Reliable Screening.
• Bryan Snow is now with Data Diver Technologies.
• John Kloos sold Backchecked to a private investor.
• Craig Cadell is now with Propelus.
• Toni Llorens is now with Checkr
• Tyrah Lawson is now with CIChecked (Michelle Pyan’s company).
• John Grammer (AccuSearch) is now with TeamScreen Solutions.
• Amy Bricken has moved from DriverIQ to TeamScreen Solutions.
• Cody Reeves was promoted to CEO at Accio Data.
• Val Poltorak moved from Sterling to SNH Partners.
• David Reed moved from Veritable Screening to
• Heidi Ulintz moved from JDP to Veritable Screening.
• Trish Dehmel (CSI) has retired.
• Amy Anderson was promoted to President at Verisys
• John Lawerence is now with InfoCheck (he put together a cool and impactful Platinum Sponsor pitch using a video he created with a lot of input from AI).
• Vince Pascarella will open his consulting firm in January. Called FCRActional.

In memoriam:

• Brad Landin, former President at ESRCheck.
• Joe Davidson, President of Cleara.
• Barry Boes, Principal and founder of Accio Data.
• Alicia Jones, former BackgroundChecks.com, Tracers and InformData.

Thank you to all the Association staff at PBSA and our wonderful Executive Director, Melissa Sorenson, and Operations Director, Michelle LeBlond, and Katee Sissler for organizing a great conference.

You know, every year just before the Conference, I wonder why do I go?  I have to get on a plane and travel all day to get there and then travel another day to get home.  Then I get there, and I am so glad I went.  So much learned and so many nice friends to see.

The PBSA 2026 Spring conference is in DC

Remember, PBSA is the voice of the screening industry. Join and support PBSA.

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