This Week in Backgrounds: Guest Blog 

A background screening pioneer thought leader, and prominent expert with almost three decades of industry experience, Jason Morris is the co-founder of IQubed Advisors, a specialty advisory firm to the background screening industry. He is also an active investor and board advisor to several startups and established businesses, including Lively, Citadel, Ferretly, TPA Stream, CrossChq, Verifiable, and Court Connect. As a consultant to consumer reporting agencies (CRAs), Morris specializes in business strategy and growth, the latest trends in background screening, mergers and acquisitions, and recruiting top executive talent. Morris’s experience as a background screening leader extends back to 1999, when he founded the Cleveland-based EmployeeScreenIQ. Morris served as President and Chief Operating Officer through November 2015, guiding the company to a successful exit, an acquisition by Sterling, the largest firm in the background screening industry. With Morris at the helm, EmployeeScreenIQ became a global leader in employment screening. EmployeeScreenIQ won numerous awards, including the prestigious Weatherhead 100 for high-growth companies in Northeast Ohio six years straight. Morris helped found the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA, formerly the National Association of Professional Background Screeners) with a small group of owners in 2002. He served as PBSA co-chairman from 2005 to 2006. He was also chairman of the Background Screening Credentialing Council (BSCC) and helped launch the industry’s first accreditation program. At the time of its exit, EmployeeScreenIQ had well over 100 employees. Morris stayed on as Sterling’s Senior Vice-President of Client Success and served on Sterling’s Mergers and Acquisitions team until October 2017. Morris is a highly sought-after expert witness for litigation concerning background checks, particularly regarding the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance. He has extensive experience participating in discovery, expert reports, depositions, and trial testimony, having been called as a witness in over 25 federal and state court cases. Morris has made frequent presentations to government agencies, including members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. He has lobbied on behalf of the screening industry and consulted with officials from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the U.S. Department of Justice. Morris continues to be an active member of the PBSA today. Morris has spoken at over 100 conferences. He has also given public testimony in several jurisdictions on behalf of Transportation Network Companies (TNC) Lyft and Uber. Passionately dedicated to community and philanthropic causes, Morris is a past president of the American Cancer Society Cuyahoga County Unit Board and a former board member of both the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Association of Cleveland and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He is also a past Revenue Chairman for the March of Dimes. Morris’s other passion is the music business. He manages Eminence Ensemble — a genre-blending group known for their high-energy live shows — and has taken an active strategic role as an investor in the live music app Lively. Morris is a criminal justice studies graduate of Kent State University. He lives in Cleveland with his wife, two daughters, and three dogs. He loves to unwind with a round of golf, fly fishing, and enjoying the outdoors with his family.