Chief executive officer
InCheck
7500 W. State St., Suite 200, Wauwatosa
Employees: 74
inchecksolutions.com
Wauwatosa-based InCheck, a provider of background screening and monitoring solutions, announced earlier this year that co-founder and chief executive officer Andy Gallion had turned over the CEO role to chief operating officer Rachel Morafcik. She joined the company in 2014 in a client-facing role, later moving into project management. BizTimes Milwaukee reporter Ashley Smart spoke with Morafcik about the transition process, how she plans to maintain InCheck’s rapid growth and how the landscape of the background screening industry is changing. Below are portions of the conversation.
How’d you end up at InCheck and when did you realize how invested you were in the company?
“We always say no one goes to school for background screening and that’s pretty true when you look at the makeup of our organization. There’s no real cute story about how I got to InCheck other than I needed a job, and I had an incredible opportunity to interview with the founders. The opportunity to move into a project management role where I was tasked with overseeing accreditation … that was the turning point for me. That was about a 15-month project for me, and it gave me the opportunity to learn every facet of the business. I remember the day I was asked to take on the project, I printed a copy of the Fair Credit Reporting Act – that’s what regulates our industry – and went home with my binder, poured myself a glass of wine, and read it front to back. I just loved it. I think I have this really deep interest in compliance and the law. I still have a copy of that original print.”
When did you find out you had been tapped to be the next CEO?
“I had a really good relationship with (Gallion and chief innovation officer and co-founder Adam Kiehl) before this plan was ever put into place. In the moment, I was so taken aback and surprised. I want to say Andy just called me back to his office and said, ‘We want you to be our future CEO.’ I had a healthy balance of eagerness for the opportunity but also trepidation. Andy and I began planning for this transition in 2019. At the time I was the director of operations. Initially, it was a three-year plan. The goal was to transition in 2022 but it was delayed a year because of COVID-19. That was another year of growth for me and a lot of learning so that four years in, I was feeling pretty confident. I was able to work on professional development and really build the foundation for strong leadership.”
What is InCheck’s biggest immediate challenge?
“For me personally, as InCheck CEO, I am really fortunate that I am surrounded by an exceptional executive leadership team. Outside of our ownership, our entire executive leadership team is female. Because of those women, and the support of Adam and Andy, I don’t feel like I’m on an island. I’m a homegrown CEO. I’ve been with the organization for almost 10 years. I would say the most immediate challenge for InCheck as a whole is self-imposed and it’s our purpose to serve others and provide unrivaled experiences. We are compelled to grow. We really want to grow our organization significantly but be very intentional. Rapid growth without intentionality would hinder our ability to serve our customers. That’s our challenge.”
How is the landscape of the background screening industry shifting?
“There’s always the question of the economy and hiring dynamics and how that could impact our business because we run background checks on individuals who are being hired. One thing I’m really proud of, and this really stood out during COVID, is that we have such a wide array of clients and industries and sizes, so the impact of the economy is lessened. There is a lot of M&A going on in our industry. There are some clients and prospective clients we’re working with that are transitioning to InCheck because that M&A activity has impacted their business negatively. The once-positive experience they had with the mid-sized CRA (consumer reporting agency) that they were working with completely changes during an acquisition. We’re seeing a lot of bigger CRAs offshoring customer service whereas we’re investing in our U.S. customer service team. We’re just really focused on getting our brand out there and sharing what differentiates us from other organizations in our industry.”
How do you plan to support InCheck’s growth?
“We were a BizTimes Future 50 winner in 2019 and again in 2022. M&A isn’t necessarily on the table, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily off the table. Organic growth has really been a driver for us. Leveraging our relationships within the community, but also leveraging the sales team that we built and grew last year. That’s where we’re focused on growing right now. There’s a number of strategies that we’ve set. We want to target markets in health care, manufacturing and professional services. We’re really focused on trade shows and seeing those as opportunities to build relationships.”
How has this era of remote work impacted the need for background screening?
“I never want to look at background screening as a barrier to employment but rather a tool employers can use to screen and identify the right fit. For every organization that’s going to be different. In this era of remote work, it’s still just as important to validate the information a candidate provides. A robust screening program supports an employer while mitigating risk and ensuring a safe working environment. You need to be mindful that you still have (remote) employees interacting with each other, often times more unsupervised than ever before. Remote individuals may have access to sensitive and proprietary information and that access is no longer just in the office, that is now accessed at home. By screening candidates, employers help mitigate the risk of hiring an individual who may have convictions related to fraud or dishonesty. As we’re seeing, a remote environment is not ideal for every person. There are so many tools an HR department or talent acquisition department can deploy. Background screening is just a small part of that.”
