Agenda
The Collaborate 2025 agenda is filled with impactful and educational breakout sessions that you can’t afford to miss! Breakout learning sessions are being finalized. Please check back for more details as they become available.
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
8:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Registration
Registration Desk
8:45 AM* – 2:00 PM
*Start times vary by activity
Meet Me in Miami Optional Peer Networking Events & Lunch
Get to know other talent acquisition professionals at no additional cost to you! During registration, you can pick from the following:
- Everglades Airboat Tour with Lunch: Meet at the Collaborate Reg Desk at 8:45 AM
- Miami City Tour by Boat with Lunch: Meet at Collaborate Registration Desk at 9:00 AM
- Little Havanna Walking Foodie Tour: Meet at the Collaborate Reg Desk at 9:45 AM
- Rum Tasting with Lunch: Meet at the Collaborate Reg Desk at 10:50 AM
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Break
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Birds of a Feather Meetings
- Automotive, Aerospace, Defense, Energy, & Manufacturing
- Financial & Business Services
- Healthcare
- Retail & Hospitality
- Staffing
- Technology, Media, & Entertainment
- Transportation
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Break & Happy Hour
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Welcome Dinner Party
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
7:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Hospitality Desk
7:00 AM – 8:00 AM
Breakfast
8:00 AM – 9:30 AM
Welcome & Keynote: AI Innovation, Change, and the Super Future
—Joelle Smith, Scott Staples, and Jeremy Gutsche
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Break and Sponsors Meet & Greet
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Workshop Sessions
Harnessing the Power of GenAI to Improve the Hiring Experience for You and Your Candidates
Generative AI (GenAI) is transforming workplaces around the world, and First Advantage is no exception. What does this mean for you? From enhancing the quality of your background checks and accelerating your turnaround times to elevating the candidate experience, we’re leveraging this profound technology within our products to help you hire smarter and onboard faster. In this session, we’ll showcase GenAI-driven initiatives that you can take advantage of, including a mix of readily available, out-of-the-box GenAI functionality and proprietary GenAI agents, guided by human-in-the-loop assistive intelligence. You’ll leave with an understanding of the how, what, and why of GenAI in background screening.
—Aleks Mika
New State and Local Legislation Impacting Background Screening
Join Angela Preston from First Advantage’s legal team who will be leading a discussion about new or updated state and local laws that may impact the use of background screening. From Fair Chance to Ban the Box, hear the latest along with best practice information for employer’s using background screening in the U.S. Don’t miss this information-rich session!
—Angela Preston
Key Compliance Updates for the DOT and FAA
To align your verification process with evolving standards issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), attend this session to hear what’s new! Our experts will explain the latest safety and regulatory requirements, including how to maintain detailed documentation of safety-specific employment verifications, drug testing history, and training compliance. You’ll leave feeling more confident, especially in light of increased enforcement.
—Ryan Nardontonia and Chris Eckhart
Case Study: Mastering High-Volume Hiring
New locations, expanded services, and growth can contribute to high-volume hiring. Are you positioned to keep up? Learn from a leading retailer who successfully implemented a strategic screening plan to meet their high-volume hiring needs. Regardless of your industry, this discussion will provide valuable insights into planning ahead to maximize efficiency, allowing you to hire smarter and onboard faster.
—Beth Hansel
Case Study: Click, Chat, Call for All!
We at First Advantage push the boundaries of innovation to make your HR processes and experiences with us more efficient and effective. In this session, we invite you to share your first-hand experience using our generative AI implementation customer support model. Join us to offer your constructive feedback on what aspects are helpful, where improvements are needed, and how we can enhance our services. Learn how one company has seen user improvements! We’ll also engage in live support scenarios together to help drive the conversation.
—Victor Sachs, Alan Marblestone, Leonard Eyster, and Michael Hufford
11:00 AM – 11:15 AM
Break
11:15 AM – 12:15 PM
Workshop Sessions
Adapting Your Drug Testing Strategy to New Laws
The steady evolution of new drug testing laws at the local, state, and federal level has many employers unsure about how best to update their drug screening policies. In this session, we’ll clarify the current landscape and offer up-to-date, practical guidance on marijuana use and testing, instant oral fluid testing, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) initiatives, and more. Learn from the experiences of other employers and explore effective ways to refine your drug screening strategy in partnership with us to remain compliant and effective.
—Abe Hammell and Ryan Nardontonia
Combating Global Applicant Fraud: Leveraging Next-Gen Identity Solutions
With remote hiring on the rise, checking on your candidate’s identity information is essential to help address potential identity fraud. This session will provide an in-depth look at our next-gen identity solutions that can help you, address trends like deep-fake technology, identity fraud and inadvertent errors in identity data submission.
—Irina Kovach
ATA Presents the State of the Transportation Industry
Stay informed on the pivotal economic trends in the transportation industry, including the latest industry data as well as forecasts for 2025 and beyond as reported by the American Trucking Association (ATA). In this session, Lindsay Bur, ATA Director of Data Science & Economics, will share the most important supply and demand developments that will help you make better business decisions as it relates to background screening and transportation compliance services.
—Lindsay Bur
Case Study: How to Successfully Scale a Global Background Screening Program
Successfully managing a global screening program can be challenging. Organizations like yours need to understand regional and local nuances, stay informed on international screening trends, and adhere to applicable global laws and regulations. Whether you’re expanding due to business acquisitions, nearshoring talent, or other reasons, this session will delve into the essential insights and considerations for building a global screening program. Gain the knowledge to seamlessly hire across borders and continue to foster growth.
—Rolf Bezemer and Marlus Coutinho
Case Study: Achieving More Efficient Onboarding by Reviewing Your Verifications Approach
You know that time is money. Discover how simple it can be to leverage one of the fastest and most cost-effective employment verification solutions in the industry. By combining the power of generative AI technology and proprietary sources, this service can assist you in onboarding talent, quickly. A customer case study will be shared in the session to bring the potential for your verifications to life.
—Barb Hester
12:15 PM – 1:15 PM
Lunch
1:15 PM – 1:45 PM
Sponsors Meet & Greet
1:45 PM – 2:45 PM
Workshop Sessions
Harnessing the Power of GenAI to Improve the Hiring Experience for You and Your Candidates
Generative AI (GenAI) is transforming workplaces around the world, and First Advantage is no exception. What does this mean for you? From enhancing the quality of your background checks and accelerating your turnaround times to elevating the candidate experience, we’re leveraging this profound technology within our products to help you hire smarter and onboard faster. In this session, we’ll showcase GenAI-driven initiatives that you can take advantage of, including a mix of readily available, out-of-the-box GenAI functionality and proprietary GenAI agents, guided by human-in-the-loop assistive intelligence. You’ll leave with an understanding of the how, what, and why of GenAI in background screening.
—Aleks Mika
New State and Local Legislation Impacting Background Screening
Join Angela Preston from First Advantage’s legal team who will be leading a discussion about new or updated state and local laws that may impact the use of background screening. From Fair Chance to Ban the Box, hear the latest along with best practice information for employer’s using background screening in the U.S. Don’t miss this information-rich session!
—Angela Preston
Exploring Digital Trends to Help Manage Driver Compliance
Managing your company’s driver compliance is critical but challenging. As the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Driver Qualification File (DQF) program continues to move toward digital-first and other tech-enabled changes, you need to stay up to date. This session will review the biggest trends, examining each one through the lens of employers like you, including the game-changing impact that MVR Monitoring is having on DQF compliance. Walk away with tips and tricks to improve your driver compliance with a digital, integrated approach.
—Barb Hester
Case Study: Drug & Health Screening | From Pain Point to Competitive Advantage
Join us to learn how you can delight your candidates, mitigate additional risk and reduce the administrative burden associated with onboarding by integrating your drug and health screening program with First Advantage. We will review the value of drug screening, take a deep dive into the robust electronic capabilities across our new vast network, and also discuss our white glove Clinical Concierge support model. If you love technology, automation and drug screening / occupational health, this is a session you don’t want to miss!
—Ryan Garman
Case Study: Unlocking the Value of Post-Hire Rescreening
If your approach to criminal record screening is “one-and-done,” this session is for you. After passing a pre-hire background check, consider post-hire rescreening or monitoring. This session examines criminal records rescreening, providing real-life use cases that share how other employers are using it to mitigate workplace risk.
—Casey Drucker and Savanna Leavitt-Green
2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Break
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Workshop Sessions
Get to Know First Advantage: Hire Smarter. Onboard Faster
Come learn about the First Advantage difference. From investment in user experience to ongoing compliance guidance, we work hard so you don’t have to! Meet the team who guides onboarding with a focus on making your lift light. Learn how we invite, train, and prepare your teams for fast and effective implementation. This session overviews how we get it done and keep you informed all along the way.
—Ken Schnee, Aaron Cook, and Rachel Stringer
Combating Global Applicant Fraud: Leveraging Next-Gen Identity Solutions
With remote hiring on the rise, checking on your candidate’s identity information is essential to help address potential identity fraud. This session will provide an in-depth look at our next-gen identity solutions that can help you, address trends like deep-fake technology, identity fraud and inadvertent errors in identity data submission.
—Irina Kovach
Adapting Your Drug Testing Strategy to New Laws
The steady evolution of new drug testing laws at the local, state, and federal level has many employers unsure about how best to update their drug screening policies. In this session, we’ll clarify the current landscape and offer up-to-date, practical guidance on marijuana use and testing, instant oral fluid testing, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) initiatives, and more. Learn from the experiences of other employers and explore effective ways to refine your drug screening strategy in partnership with us to remain compliant and effective.
—Abe Hammell and Ryan Nardontonia
Screening Strategies for Last Mile Drivers
One of the most expensive parts of the delivery process is that last mile! As Merchant’s Fleet explained: “The last mile problem refers to the common inefficiencies of last mile delivery. Factors of the last mile problem include short-delivery frame, same-day delivery, cost of fuel, last-minute route changes, failed deliveries, and customer expectations, just to name a few. Customers have extremely high expectations for timely delivery, and the pressure falls on the fleet managers to fulfill expectations. Last mile is often the most expensive and time-consuming part of the shipping process. In fact, last mile often accounts for 53% of the total costs of shipments.” Let’s discuss if and how driver and fleet screening strategies may need enhancements to help mitigate last-mile driving challenges.
—Mike Nizzi
Case Study: Achieving More Efficient Onboarding by Reviewing Your Verifications Approach
You know that time is money. Discover how simple it can be to leverage one of the fastest and most cost-effective employment verification solutions in the industry. By combining the power of generative AI technology and proprietary sources, this service can assist you in onboarding talent, quickly. A customer case study will be shared in the session to bring the potential for your verifications to life.
—Barb Hester
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Break
6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Collaboration Celebration
Join us for a fun-filled opportunity to network with industry peers
Thursday, April 17, 2025
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Breakfast
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Legal Eagles
Join Pamela Devata from the Seyfarth firm and Bret Jardine, Chief Legal Officer at First Advantage, who will discuss trends in background screening services from a legal perspective and will share industry best practices for the use of those services by employers.
—Bret Jardine and Pamela Devata
10:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Break
10:45 AM – 11:30 AM
2025 Global Trends Report
Smart employers plan for background check adjustments. Join this inspiring session to hear what other winning companies are doing to create high-performing screening programs that optimize speed and cost, mitigate risk AND deliver positive candidate experiences. It’s based on our highly anticipated 2025 Global Trends Report, which will be unveiled at Collaborate.
—Chuck Lauer, Nuno Ricardo, Brian Larrow, and Savanna Leavitt-Green
11:30 AM – 12:00 Noon
Closing Session
Beyond the Check: Customer Panel Q&A on Best Practices
—Bo Englehardt and Melissa Dorsett Gavin