About Us  |  CEO’s Letter

Early in my career, I was privileged to be part of the management team of the Ford White House’s Presidential Clemency Board. Shortly after the Nixon resignation and the end of the Vietnam War, President Ford offered clemency to “draft resisters” and others who had fallen afoul of civilian and military law during that conflict. Within weeks of opening the doors, we were overwhelmed by a flood of thousands of applications. It turned out there were actually very few “draft resisters.” Most were like the soldier who had served and been wounded during three tours in Vietnam—but had subsequently been caught on a marijuana charge on his way home through Germany, dishonorably discharged, and stripped of his medical and service benefits.

The Board, composed of a stellar group of American military heroes and civilian patriots, tried its best to deal with the cases, but it was clear within weeks that their decisions were often random. My boss, an insightful guy named Bill Strauss, came up with a solution that not only allowed us to capture and manage these applications, but also brought fairness and equity to the process. In short, he convinced the Board to establish clear rules—we called them “Aggravating and Mitigating Factors”—and a procedure to create and approve the applications; a transparent, process-based scoring system; algorithms to calculate a recommended decision; and a feedback loop at the end to measure our success. It worked because it brought clarity, transparency, and efficiency—not to mention fairness and predictability—to the Board decisions. All told, 32,000 young Americans—many the victims of no more than chance and circumstance—were able to get along with their lives knowing that the government had treated them fairly and compassionately as individuals.

That’s really what we do today, albeit with a lot more technology and knowledge than we had at the Presidential Clemency Board thirty-five years ago. Whether it’s chasing down tax fraud, helping the FDA protect against bad food and drugs, supporting the TSA in ensuring the safety of airline cargo, establishing eligibility for government benefits, or even managing traffic congestion in ports in the Middle East—it is, in the end, not only about efficiency but, equally important, transparency, consistency, and fairness.

I always remember that it’s about that soldier—that behind every number is a person. So does everyone else at NTELX.

Rob Quartel — Chairman and CEO