Episode 4: Balancing Compliance, Career, and a Passion for Soup? Meet Melissa Foiles!

What’s the connection between crafting airtight compliance processes and discovering the world’s best soups? In this episode of Behind the Screens, I sit down with Melissa Foiles—a true background screening expert and a dedicated foodie—to dive into her remarkable career, her dedication to PBSA, and her unique passion for regional cuisines from around the world.

Melissa’s journey started in account management at LexisNexis, and she’s since become a go-to consultant for compliance and accreditation in background screening. Along the way, she’s contributed to PBSA as a committee member, leader, and current board member. This is an episode brimming with insights from a professional who’s seen the industry evolve while lending her expertise to help others navigate its complexities. Melissa also shares her enthusiasm for traveling, attending concerts with her daughter, and recreating regional dishes—especially soups! It’s a warm, inspiring conversation with plenty of laughs.

Pro Conversation You don’t want to miss!

• Starting Out: LexisNexis to Industry Leadership
  Melissa shares her career path, from her early days at LexisNexis to her journey with Sedelius Group and ISB Global Services. Hear how her work with PBSA has enriched her career and deepened her industry knowledge.
• Building Compliance Expertise and PBSA Involvement
  A dedicated PBSA board member, Melissa shares the role PBSA has played in her professional development and why she encourages newcomers to get involved. Learn how the association brings competitors together to exchange ideas and support one another.
• Navigating Change and the Importance of Human Insight in Screening
  Melissa discusses the critical role of human expertise in background screening and why individualized assessments are key, especially in an age of rapid AI adoption. From mergers and acquisitions to compliance challenges, her insights shed light on the industry’s future.

Melissa’s unique mix of expertise, humor, and curiosity is a joy to listen to. If you’re interested in background screening, compliance, or just want to be inspired by someone who truly loves her work, this episode is for you!

Don’t Miss Out!
Be sure to follow us, rate, and leave a review if you enjoy this conversation with Melissa. Stay tuned for more in-depth conversations with background screening pros who make this industry thrive.

Connect with Melissa Foiles!

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• Les Rosen- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesterrosen/
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/@BehindtheSCreens200

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Behind the Screens Conversations with Background Screening Pros. I'm Les Rosen, your host, and I'm excited to have you here. On this podcast, we chat with the people who know the background screening world inside and out. Executives, industry experts, legal pros, and more. We dive into their personal stories and insights to give you a real look at what's happening behind the scenes. Whether you work in the screening industry or are just curious, behind the screens bring you the real unfiltered conversations from the people who make it all happen. Stick around for stories you won't hear anywhere else. Hey ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this edition of Behind the Screens Conversations with Background Screening Pros. And today we have, we're very fortunate to have at one of the real pros in the background screening industry, Melissa Foyles. Melissa, how are you today?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Doing great. How are you doing, Les?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

At the time of recording this, you not only were in Bosford, BBSA, then Las Vegas, HR Tech, then you went home to Atlanta just in time to see the hurricanes. So you must like hurricanes. And despite all that, you're with us today. So we're very thankful to have you. So welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

My pleasure. And so let's start off by asking you to tell us about your current role, what it is you're doing now, and what you find most interesting about your current positions.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

So I um actually am the president of my own consulting company. It's Elm Consulting, which for people that ask, it's Elm stands for I Love You Most. And there's a whole story behind that. We can talk about that another time. But I actually now am doing accreditation work and compliance work with background screening companies, really focusing mainly on small to mid-sized companies and just helping to kind of level up and make sure that they're working in a compliant manner to deliver the best background checks.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

So is it more compliance or production or what what's your real emphasis a little of everything?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Compliance. Um I'm I don't do fulfillment. I come in to just kind of help with policies and procedures, to give any kind of advice also for vendor referrals, platform referrals, things like that, just to kind of give some insight. And sometimes, you know, there's better insight than others, but just to kind of give some ideas of some things that might help to make the team work better.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

And you got my curiosity. So what does the L stand for? What's the short, the short version?

SPEAKER_01 2:38

The the I love you most. So it's actually an honor from my mother. Um passed away a couple of years ago. Oh, we've been always tell each other every day I love you most. And because I love this industry, I thought it was a really good way to kind of share that along.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Oh, that's fantastic. Well, thank you for sharing that. It's very nice. Now, so you obviously just didn't suddenly hang up your shingle and become an expert in uh compliance. You have a really interesting career path. Tell us about your path uh to get you where you are now.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Yeah, so I started off uh with Lexus Nexus. If you remember way back when, after they had taken over choice points, and I started in small business sales, and then I worked in account management when we became First Advantage. And I took the plunge to work with a very small startup company called the Sedelius Group that they were really just getting started. I was two years into the industry, so of course I thought at the time I knew everything, uh, which now we know is not true. But so I came in to work with them and it was a very it was a husband and wife team, and we worked through our accreditation together. So I learned so much in that time doing the accreditation, which I think it's part of why I have such an affinity for it. And then from there, wound up going to some other companies, but then a company, ISB Global Services, actually asked to purchase Sedelius Group, and when they did, they asked for me to come back with them. So that's where I was for the last five years, and working with them to transition all their accreditation work and then to get them accredited with the general accreditation, which they're one of 14 companies in the world that have that distinction.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

That's the new accreditation standard. Okay, great. Yeah, I know what you mean when you think you know everything. I I was at a point where I I mistakenly thought I knew a lot, and then you show up to work and uh it it practically with without fail, every day something would come up where you go, okay, I'm stumped. What do I do now? Yeah, it's just you just never it it it there's never a completion point. It's like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. You're done, you've got to start over again. So, what is your you like most about the screening industry? I mean, you've obviously admitted it for a long time and working with a lot of people. What attracts you to? What do you find interesting about it?

SPEAKER_01 4:52

I love the fact that we actually are impacting people's lives on a daily basis. I know a lot of times the more we get into business, we start looking at transactions and and cost and profit margins, but we really literally help people to get to their jobs, we help people to uh get into homes, and to me that's extremely important. I take that very seriously.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Yeah. I like to say that we're not the job police. We just help employers and employees uh match. And so it that it was critical. So one of the interesting things, many interesting things about you is that you're currently a board member of PBSA, the Professional Background Security Association, formerly NAPBS, and uh another mouthful. Tell us about what role PBS has played in your career.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Honestly, Les, is I think the reason why I'm still in the industry when I was at the Sedelius group and went to my first NAPBS conference, I remember my hands cramping out because of all the notes I was taking. But honestly, just how this organ or this industry, we're competitors, right? But everybody's so helpful and lifts each other up and supports one another. And I think for me, being with PBSA and doing the volunteer work that I've done there along the years and just getting to meet just incredible people in this industry, it's been just a huge help for me. I can't speak highly enough of what PDSA does to help to teach those who are new in the industry, who've been in the industry, um, to also get to just know each other. I mean, just friendships like ours here. Um, but just to be able to get to know each other and learn from each other. I think it's been a wonderful association for that.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Which was your first conference?

SPEAKER_01 6:35

The first conference was uh 2014. Uh for uh so this uh 10 years, 10 years in the making.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Oh, that's fantastic. So and you've been to all of them in the last 10 years then? Or is it able?

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Yeah, yeah. But I've been heavily invested in PBSA, starting with when we used to have subcommittees and started uh the litigation avoidance committee going through all of the PDS or all the FCRA litigation that was going on on PACER, which now I think it's almost impossible to do that research on a monthly basis the way we did then. But yeah, that's where it started, and then just got into industry practices, been involved with government relations, the leadership development committee, and now on the board.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

So your first subcommittee was again what government relations you said, or no litigate litigation avoidance. Boys, okay. Well, and and back then, I mean not that long ago, but back then it was hard to uh now Todd Higby, an attorney in Alabama, you know, at the conferences tracks all the litigation. But back then, boy, you go on PACER and you put an FCRA, you would end up with the Florida Civil Rights Act half the time or a credit bureau. So, I mean that was not an easy task to comb through that and figure out who is being sued and for what. And so that that's fantastic. So that and then you went from there to where again?

SPEAKER_01 7:45

From industry practices. So I co-chaired, yeah, with industry practices. But okay. Like I said, I have not been on one committee yet that was not extremely informative and taught me something every time I went to a meeting. So it's been a great journey.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

So see, you were the classic ladder. You started off as a subcommittee, and then you went to a bigger committee, bigger good, and then the leadership committee, and then now you have a term on the board. See what you are your when what does your term start? When do you have like two years or three years left?

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Um yeah, so it started for at September where this last conference was announced. So it goes through 2027.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Well, congratulations, I think. That's turned out to be a lot of work. Well, let's move away now from background screening a little bit and let's talk about a little bit more about Melissa. And outside of background screening, we like to ask people about your any hobbies or special interests outside of work, what you do for fun, that that sort of thing, outside of the FCRA, et cetera, et cetera.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Yeah, so month ago to concerts. In fact, I'm taking my daughter tomorrow. I don't know if you ever heard of Cake. They are all 90s grunge band, but excited that I'm gonna get to go see them live in concert. But also really love to travel and get out as much as possible. Weekend trips just to get away for a few days. So that's usually what you can find me doing is trying to just get away for a few days.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Okay, good. Well, you're going to the concert with your daughter, that'd be fun. Do you guys dress up or uh yeah?

SPEAKER_01 9:16

No, but we we haven't been well, no, actually, that's not true. Before we went to the PBSA conference, we went to a Smash and Pumpkins conference. So I love music all across the board. So anytime I can get any new music or get to go see anything live, that's always exciting.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

But Smashing Pumpkins, I I haven't heard I haven't heard of them or from them in a long time. So yeah, so they're still around, huh? Yes, they are.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

They were actually opening for a green day for that conference or for that concert, which was kind of funny. But I would have thought Smashing Pumpkins would have been the headliner, but it was a great night. It was a great night.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

So your daughter must be a little bit older to uh uh to see these these rock bands or so forth, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Yeah, no, she's 21, so we hang out with each other sometimes, yeah. Oh, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Okay. And my next question is typically, I think you you've answered at least part of that. Tell us something interesting about yourself, not related to screening, and going to smashing pumpkin concerts is pretty cool. But uh, what do you want to share about yourself that you know because we all have concerts, we all have conference friends, we all kind of know each other in that context. We know a few things, but what's something that the people who know you may may oh Melissa does that?

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Oh, oh gosh, I don't know. I'm kind of boring. Um, but I do like to, like I said, I like to go to uh concerts and do love to travel. Just came back from a cruise and really trying to get back to Puerto Rico as soon as possible because it was amazing. Love to try new cultures and especially, I guess, so something odd about Melissa that you might not know. I love to try soups that are like that are specific to each region. So, like we just went to the Dominican Republic and had a Sancocho soup. I don't know if you've ever had it. It's amazing. So I love to come home and recreate the soups. Um I could eat soup every single day.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

So I've not heard of that. That's fantastic. All right. Where where was the uh the cruise, by the way?

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Um, so we were in the Eastern Caribbean. So, well, Puerto Rico, when we went there, we had Mafango, which is the plantain-based um yeah. So any good food, I love to have uh good food anywhere around the world. So um, but yeah, we were we went f to a few different islands uh in the eastern Caribbean, so it was a nice trip.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Oh, that's it. So it's one of the it's one of those great cruises where it's in a new island every day, and you can go to the beach, you can do whatever, you know, on each island you're always something to do. Yeah. Yeah, I cris in my youth, I I crisscrossed the Caribbean scuba diving because I've been to most of those islands, but oh wow. That was some time ago. I saw more underwater than above water, but that's fun. Where where and what do you do a lot of cruising or where else have you gone?

SPEAKER_01 11:52

No, that was after my first cruise. So now we've gotten bitten by the bug, so we're gonna have to try it again.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

So uh where's and where's your next cruise? What's your what's your uh your your your hope and uh for your next place to go?

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Yeah, so my my next door neighbor is a cruise queen, and so she's trying to get me to go on a cruise with her to Alaska, which I think would be really fun to go see Alaska. So that's hopefully that will be the next one.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Oh, well, highly recommended that that'd be fantastic. Boy, that that'd be a lot of fun. We'll kind of shift back to a little bit about background screening. I like to ask people who who have some experience and perspective and have seen how things have changed over the years. What do you think, or what do you see? It's just sort of off the top of your head, the uh top issues that you see challenging the screening industry or needs to be addressed in the future. Like, what are you kind of running into that you feel like you're hitting your head against the wall or you're wondering what will happen?

SPEAKER_01 12:49

I don't know if it's hitting my head against the wall, but it's been very interesting to see all of the mergers and acquisitions and that we've had a lot of rifts in the industry. So there's a lot of really amazing people right now that are without work. And so I'm really thinking that we're gonna start to see new CRAs start to pop up and to see some of these experts that have been in the field for a while come out and bring some new emerging technologies out there. I'm really excited to see that. I think that's something that, you know, it Leslie, we've been around for a minute. So we've seen it ebbs and flows, right? So I think we're just in that next week to see that kind of come about. So I'm really interested to see how that's going to impact new companies coming out and just see how it impacts the whole like landscape of the industry.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Well, I and I I see a lot of firms offering, you know, new and innovative and interesting ways to manipulate or bring data or normalize data or find the data or get the data instantly. And and and then I look at that and I say, well, I hope they understand the nature of the screening industry is that the the key term is individualized assessments. You have people come in who are tech folks, and then my question is, well, do they appreciate that? Yeah, that's good, but on the other hand, you know, we're we're talking about people here who need jobs, and everyone's entitled to be judged individually. So, you know, taking riffing off from what you said, I mean, I would think that your compliance expertise would could help some of those folks figure out, gee, we just can't apply mass data, machine learning, a lot of AI, and you know, for the routine stuff, but but at the end of the day, decision making is individualized. So I think that'll be interesting to see.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

I agree with that. And I would say that's been one of the really interesting things that I've seen with my clients coming in, is that they are still very concerned about the human element and making sure that there is somebody literally touching the work that's going out. Um, which, you know, sometimes we we start to forget that when we do hear about AI and things like that and wonder if we're going to become completely robotic. But I I I think the companies out there, especially those who are compliance-minded, and I think that they're still making sure to have that human element.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yeah, as long as we all keep in mind the the key word, uh the the individualized assessment, that's all the you know, the fair chance laws and fair hiring laws and EESC. And well, you know, we we touched on it, but how do you think these new technologies will impact background screening professionals?

SPEAKER_01 15:18

You know, I don't know. And I love to read about it and check it out. I do have my chat GPT, but uh we like to hang out with each other. I named her Lola, and she actually is like my $20 uh a month employee. But as far as how it's really gonna impact the whole background screening industry, I don't know. I know that we're emerging new technologies and new ideas every day. I don't know that we're ever gonna be completely automated, though. I don't see how it could ever be completely automated. But I I've learned a lot along the way. And so, like I said, a little bit ago, I as soon as I think I know everything, I don't know anything.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

So I can't stress how how how true that is. I you you you think you've all figured it out, and and then a new one pops up, and you oh my god, I I never even knew this scenario could exist. And then you think, well, yeah, and and you you it's like a Pandora's box of problems. You know, one of the things you mentioned, and we just have we have a couple extra minutes here, we can talk about this. You you talked about going through accreditation twice, which is um you know, a remarkable of all of those who've gone through accreditation, and that's a remarkable process. Tell us what you see as the benefits of that in in terms of the firms you were with or the people that were involved or the process of doing it.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

So I think that on one level for myself personally, it helped me to really learn the industry inside and out. For an organization, it helps to make sure that all of your employees learn the industry inside and out because they will audit, you know, one or two people on the team, and you've got to make sure everybody's trained and knows what's going on because they will always pick the one person that doesn't have all the answers. But um but but it it is really a matter of being very intentional about understanding the business. And I think that for me, I mean, it's it's been just an incredible part of my journey with background screening.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

And and then you did it the first time with one firm, then you redid it, and then there's changes, you know, each version of accredited. Not huge, but there's at the margins, there's new things to add some of the older things might be clarified. So that must be interesting as well to to kind of compare the when the changes are made. Because it's a process, but it is it's always being done. So how are you how are you able to navigate that?

SPEAKER_01 17:37

So I think that the general accreditation, because it is to its points, it's a general accreditation. I think that it was very close in line with what the U.S. accreditation is. And I can't speak for PDSA, but I could see further down the line having certifications for different regions or something to that end. It is so specific depending on what part of the world you're in. So I think that the general accreditation was interesting because it opened me up because my company was Canadian-based, so I had to really dig deep into the Canadian side of the law. So I think that we're just going to continue to get better and more focused with the accreditations to be really specific to the regions that they're in.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

And that's a great point because you brought up the international, because you have a lot of international expertise as well. When did that start? When did you go transition from being domestic to having the this whole world of international, which is immensely complicated, in my view, at least?

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Well, when ISB actually purchased the Sedilius Group, so then as a Canadian-based company, which is interesting because we're so used to being kind of US-centric. I mean, me working for US centric companies, working for a Canadian-centric company was very different. And getting to learn the differences in how they view Producey, how they view background screening as a whole. So it it really opened up my eyes to that. And then with that, also going and researching into GDPR and just how very specific and rigorous that is, which is a whole different ballgame. But it's it really kind of opened up my eyes to the way that we see things in the US and our litigious nature here in the US. And that there's other countries that are more, I guess you want to say reasonable focus that you know, let's do something that's reasonable. I think sometimes in the US, just because of how litigation's gotten so far out of hand that it's not always reasonable anymore, it's kind of gotcha. But so that's kind of opened up that perspective as far as just getting to work in the Canadian side.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Yeah. No, I I thought I heard you say, yeah, that the law of the USA has been uh sort of and I got you. You know, if you feel the dot and I across the T, so there's a a class action lawsuit, even though no one's been heard compromised and injured in any way at all. And and of course a lot of law on that, so I'm not we're not here to go through all the legalities of it, but it just adds to the mix of what you need to keep in mind.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Yeah, well, honestly, and how different countries, even if you haven't background checks and how they impact employees, and it's just it's very interesting. And I'm excited to always learn more about the international perspectives because it is so different based off of the region.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah, I've always written that every country is an adventure, every country is different. There's you think you know what's the US, and that's fine, but you go to other countries all over the world, and every single country it's like learning something brand new from the beginning. So yeah. You like intellectual challenges, actually is a pretty is a really interesting industry for that. Nothing ever stays the same for a minute.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Very true, very true.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

So you, Melissa, you have a perspective with everything you've told us in terms of your path and your journey. Hopefully, that we'll have people listening on these podcasts who are either thinking of getting into the industry or they're kind of newish, or they have a you know, a little bit of time in, but they you know are still trying to figure out their career path. What's your thoughts or advice for people that you know are you know at the sort of more at the beginning of their career in terms of how they they should go about it, the advantages of staying in the screening industry or not? What's your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 21:09

So you probably already know I'm gonna say get involved with PBSA. But to honestly, to really do that, and and I share with junior employees that I've worked with along the way to say, you know, you don't have to leave when you come into committees, you don't have to speak up, you don't have to say anything, you can just sit and listen. And I think that if you really want to learn about the industry and learn the nuances and not just what your particular company may be doing, but also to understand the full landscape of the industry. I do fully say to get involved with PBSA, to attend the meetings, just you know, call in once a month just to listen to what's going on so that you can kind of understand what's going on. But also to to know we can talk to each other. And I said it earlier, but that this is such a collaborative industry, and there's so much knowledge that people want to transfer with each other and to help each other out. I found that from the beginning of really getting involved with PBSA and getting to come to these conferences, being able to be part of that. I would definitely encourage newer employees to get involved with that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

One of the things I hear in this podcast series, and you and you've also had the same experience, is that one of the other advantages of PBSA is that people seem to form close professional close friendships beyond just conference friendships. Is that been your experience as well?

SPEAKER_01 22:31

100% yes. Yeah. Some of the best people in the world, I think, are are in this industry. So yes. Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Okay. Do you have any other closing thoughts that you'd like to share and about uh your own journey or about the background screening business or or anything that comes to mind at all? The microphone is yours.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Well, this has been a great conversation, Les, and I know that you were one of the founding members in the NAPBS when it started. What was that back in the early 2000s?

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Yeah, so I was actually chairperson of the startup committee.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

And then the first co-chair. So yeah, back in the days when there there wasn't members, there wasn't a structure. We had $14,000, and I said, well, let's launch, see what happens. All right. What could possibly go wrong? So yeah, so it's been a been a been a long adventure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

I just want to take a moment to thank you for doing that and for helping to create this great association that we have today. I think that we all benefit from it. I think we get better every year. And don't really have any like really words of wisdom aside from that, but just to say thank you to you.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Well, no, thank you. And thank you to you and all the people that made the industry so interesting as well. And uh, thank you, ladies and gentlemen. You have had the opportunity to visit with our good friend, an industry expert and a true background screen pro, Melissa Foyles. On the website will be her LinkedIn profile address if you'd like to get in touch with her for any reason whatsoever. Questions about compliance or her favorite soup, I'm sure she'll be equally enthusiastic about uh either one. So, all right. And with that, Melissa, let me say thank you very much. We really appreciate your time here. Thanks for watching.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Thank you, guys. All right, bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

All right, that was yet another wonderful conversation with a background screening pro. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to hit subscribe so 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 word out. For more info or to catch up on past episodes, or to make suggestions, or to suggest possible future guests, head over to our website. Once again, this is your host Les Rosen, and it's been a pleasure to bring you another episode. See you on the next episode. Thanks.