Management
Bill C. Whitford, Chief Executive Officer
Widely recognized for the last twenty years as a leading visionary and innovator within the employment screening industry, Whitford continues to play a pioneering role in establishing ever-evolving best practices in key screening processes in order to make them faster, easier and more cost-effective for organizations to implement.
As a founding member of eScreen, a drug-screening company, he successfully launched a revolutionary new instant drug-testing device that fundamentally changed the industry. He currently holds three technology patents related to the product.
In his role as Chief Operating Officer of Rapsheets, a background-screening firm, he led a team of technology experts that developed several sophisticated background screening solutions targeting organizations with highly specialized data needs including nonprofits and private investigation firms.
At employment screening giant ChoicePoint, Whitford once again raised the bar for the broader screening industry. As senior vice president and general manager of the company $200 million employment screening division, he led the industry shift toward the adoption of automated, integrated technologies in place of traditionally manual tasks. Cutting-edge, Web-based digital technology developed by his expert team modernized formerly paper-intensive processes such as drug screening and employment eligibility verifications. Even today, this ground-breaking change in the industry continues to help organizations save thousands of dollars in administrative costs and empowers HR leaders and security professionals to accomplish far more with much fewer resources.
As a widely respected thought leader with an insightful understanding of the screening market and critical economic factors that influence global hiring and recruiting trends, Whitford is regularly featured and quoted in national publications and magazines including ComputerWorld Magazine and BusinessWeek. Whitford holds a BBA from Midwestern State University. He is a devoted family man with two children.
Jim Zimbardi, President
A rare, powerhouse of knowledge on the practical use of complex, data-driven solutions, Jim Zimbardi has more than three decades of intensive, hands-on experience in information technology, public records access, data management and analytics and data security.
For years, Jim has been at the forefront of innovative, thought-provoking issues within the background screening industry, helping organizations obtain the information they need to make smarter decisions by setting new standards for providing broader – yet more secure – access to public records.
Most recently, as a senior executive at ChoicePoint, now part of LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group, Jim led several high-profile initiatives including the development and implementation of industry leading privacy and compliance standards pertaining to the use and access of public records and personal data. In addition, after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Jim worked closely with key law enforcement officials and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop sophisticated data analytics and enhance background information availability in order to combat terror and identity fraud.
As result of his successful work with government groups in 2001, Jim was appointed as ChoicePoint’s executive management lead on the Transportation Security Administration’s federal screeners background project in 2003. The project enabled the efficient, secure background screening of more than 120,000 candidates to help increase airport security staff.
Jim was a key member of the management team that engineered the spin-off of Equifax Insurance Services in 1996, resulting in the formation of ChoicePoint. ChoicePoint grew from a $400 million company to one with over $1 billion in revenue by the time it was acquired in September, 2008 by LexisNexis.
Jim is a leading knowledge expert on the application of data analytics to solve complex problems in the federal, state and local law enforcement and intelligence communities, and a sought-after industry speaker in both the government and private sectors. His most recent audiences include the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. In addition, he has testified before Congress on the merits of effective background screening programs.
In October 2008, Jim received the Distinguished Service Award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Jim currently serves on the board of advisors for Vision Atlanta, a mentoring organization for at-risk children in the Atlanta area.
Jim is based in the company’s Atlanta offices.
Arnette Heintze, Chief Strategy Officer
With nearly three decades of experience at the most senior levels of federal, state and local law enforcement, Arnette has an exceptionally strategic perspective on security planning and management, investigative and protective operations, emergency preparedness, crisis management and disaster response. As one of the most senior leaders in the United States Secret Service, Arnette planned, designed and implemented successful protective strategies for U.S. Presidents, world leaders, events of national significance and the protection of the nation's most critically sensitive assets.
From 1990 to 1995, Arnette was part of the Presidential Protective Division, where he served on the permanent detail protecting President and Mrs. George H.W. Bush and President and Mrs. William J. Clinton. Arnette also coordinated the Secret Service's liaison program for the 160 foreign embassies in Washington, D.C., and acted as the Secret Service chief spokesperson and agent-in-charge of the Public Affairs Office, where he led the crisis communication team during some of the nation's most trying times.
In 1998, Arnette was selected as the U.S. Treasury Department's representative to attend the prestigious National War College where he earned a Master of Science degree in National Security Strategy. As the nation's leading institution for grand strategy, the National War College prepares a select group of military officers and ranking federal civilians with enhanced decision-making capabilities necessary for leadership in national security policy, foreign policy, defense policy, military strategy, force employment and joint operations.
After retiring from the Secret Service, Arnette served as the Chief Security Officer for PepsiCo Beverages and Foods, where he established a comprehensive security strategy, including crisis management, business continuity, emergency preparedness, security awareness and investigative strategies to protect PepsiCo's key assets. Arnette has received numerous awards and recognition for superior performance, dedicated service and heroic actions, including the U.S. Secret Service Valor Award - the agency's highest. Arnette is board-certified in Security Management and has earned the coveted Certified Protection Professional (CPP) designation awarded by ASIS International.
Barbara Wenger, Vice President of Marketing
With nearly a decade of results-oriented sales and marketing expertise, Barbara brings to S2Verify a passionate commitment to expanding the company's market share through the open exchange of industry leading, best practice information related to S2Verify solutions, and ensuring the company's alignment with the needs of its most valuable asset - its customers.
Barbara's career is peppered with stand-out accomplishments that have moved the needle for several organizations. While at the San Diego Union-Tribune, a California-based newspaper, she helped increase the paper's circulation an astounding 30 percent by tapping into the largely underdeveloped senior citizen market, and launching a seniors program within area retirement communities.
She gained specific experience in the manufacturing and distribution industries while working at DSC Communications Corp., Larse Corp. and Summit Insulation, where she streamlined sales and support operations to achieve up to a 40 percent reduction in manual order entry errors. In addition, her sales workflow innovations helped place knowledgeable sales people in the field faster than ever before by significantly accelerating sales training timelines.
Barbara took a brief break from the day-to-day work world in order to raise her small children, but even then, she remained in a key consulting role to executive leaders within the human resource field. Most recently, she has consulted for the chief executive officer of a technology start-up firm and later the president of a leading, multi-national service organization.
Born in Basel, Switzerland, Barbara is fluent in several languages and has dual citizenship for both Switzerland and the United States. Although she currently resides in the Atlanta, Georgia-area with her husband and children, most of Barbara's family still resides in Switzerland. Barbara has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing degree from the University of Midwestern State.
Brian Heatwole, Vice President of Sales
With an established performance record that includes driving millions in new revenue over the past five years, Brian is a seasoned executive leader who has held senior management positions at three of the industry’s largest screening firms during his distinguished 20-year career. His aggressive, hands-on approach to strategic, cross-market business growth is largely due to his vast experience working with key Fortune 1000 organizations, and his intense knowledge of high-volume screening markets including healthcare, transportation, retail, and staffing as well as intense focus on U.S, Middle Markets . He brings to S2Verify a highly sought-after skill set which spans the entire sales lifecycle to include product innovation and development, implementation of first-to-market sales strategies, successful deployment of solution-based sales processes and industry leading channel marketing strategies.