CASE STUDY: Modern Due Diligence in Higher Education Executive Search

How Academic Search leverages Fama to protect client institutional reputations and student safety.

Key Highlights

• 5+ Year Partnership: A long-term collaboration built on continuous innovation and a deep understanding of the higher education landscape.
• Human-to-Human Support: A premium on "extraordinary" service and proactive communication, ensuring FCRA compliance and expert guidance are always a phone call away.
• Mission Alignment: By identifying patterns of good decision-making, Fama helps protect the budgets, students, and futures of the institutions Academic Search serves.

About the Client

Academic Search is a premier executive search firm with a 50-year legacy in recruiting senior leadership for colleges and universities. They were founded by higher education leaders who can help higher education institutions hire the best talent through deep knowledge and experience. They seek to enhance institutional capacity by providing outstanding executive recruitment services, executive coaching, and transition support, in partnership with their parent organization, the American Academic Leadership Institute.

The Problem: Comprehensive Due Diligence at Scale

Higher Education institutions must ensure  they're entrusting students, budgets, and future work of the institution to folks that demonstrate good decision-making and patterns of behavior. A bad executive hire can jeopardize both funding and grants as well as student safety and well-being. These institutions know they need expert help in recruiting executive talent, and they turn to Academic Search to ensure a successful placement.

For Senior VP and COO Shawn Hartman, the primary challenge wasn't just finding great talent; it was due diligence. Higher education institutions face immense public pressure and oversight. Ensuring the best placements requires more than traditional background checks, which often miss behavioral patterns visible only on social media or the web. Before Fama, the team tried to surface these insights manually through Google and LexisNexis searches. These were time-consuming and lacked the depth and consistency required for executive-level roles. Failing to catch a past controversy would impact the trust that universities place in Academic Search to vet candidates thoroughly.

Vendor Selection Process

When evaluating vendors, Academic Search sought a solution and partner that: 

• Understood the nuances of higher education and executive search. 
• Tailored the screening process and solution to address the unique needs of their business, clients, and industry. 
• Delivered highly accurate reports in quick turnaround times.

Academic Search ultimately chose Fama because we: 

• Offer deep customization to support the specific needs of Higher Ed language, work environments, or regulatory environments that other vendors couldn't provide. 
• Stay ahead of social media and compliance trends over time, and add new sources and product developments to ensure best-in-class screenings. 
• Conduct the most number of social media screenings of any vendor on the market, whether directly or through a partner, and they wanted to “cut out the middleman” while ensuring high accuracy, fast turnarounds, and direct customer service.

“Our evaluation process wasn't just about comparing features; it was about uncovering who was actually doing the work and who could handle the unique vocabulary of academia,” says Hartman. He continues, “While other providers white-label Fama’s technology, Academic Search’s direct partnership allows for deeper customization and faster turnarounds.” He also noted, “Fama's constant [product] updates gave [us] the confidence that [our] due diligence would remain "exhaustive" as the internet evolves.”

The Solution: A Data-Driven Shield for Higher Education

Academic Search transformed its vetting process by replacing surface-level, manual Google searches with Fama’s AI-based social media and online due diligence. The process includes two searches, beginning with an Adverse Media report for all initial interviewees to surface initial "red flags" before significant resources are invested. For shortlist candidates, the firm runs a comprehensive Fama 360 report, which provides a holistic view of finalist candidates. 

• Initial Interviewees: Adverse Media screening for early-stage "red flag" detection.
• Shortlist: Fama 360 screening for holistic, finalist-level due diligence.

To meet the high-stakes demands of Higher Education, Academic Search worked with Fama to customize screening criteria with filters unique to academia, such as NCAA infractions and industry-specific publications. This tailored approach ensures that institutional partners, who oversee multi-million dollar budgets and the safety of thousands of students, are never blindsided. As Hartman notes, "There are very few things that higher education leaders dislike more than surprises. If past behaviors are not caught, it makes it challenging to successfully complete a search because it impacts the trust our partners have in us." By leveraging Fama screenings, Academic Search provides the transparency required to hire leaders who can be trusted with both the institution's finances and its future.

"There are very few things that higher education leaders dislike more than surprises. If past behaviors are not caught, it makes it challenging to successfully complete a search because it impacts the trust our partners have in us."

“Fama is really important for us,” says Hartman. With the pressure higher education is currently facing, “institutions want to make sure that we're hiring the best candidates we can.” “It’s critical to our work.”

How Fama Fits into Academic Search’s Cost Structure 

Academic Search fits Fama into their cost structure as a flat-fee reimbursable expense. Because the value of the due diligence is so clear, they see "very little pushback" from institutional partners regarding the cost.

The Results: Efficiency at Scale and Total Peace of Mind

By partnering with Fama, Academic Search has moved from manual, fragmented research to streamlined, scalable due diligence. The firm can now screen thousands more records than was ever humanly possible, providing a level of due diligence that matches the high-stakes nature of executive recruitment. "The Fama report allows us to present one comprehensive view to our partner institutions instead of having to combine several different sources," Hartman explains. "That one report helps hiring authorities make decisions on who best meets their mission and needs, ensuring we can entrust them with the work of the institution."

Beyond the data, the partnership provides a critical layer of legal and emotional security. By leveraging Fama’s expertise in FCRA compliance, Academic Search no longer has to navigate the shifting legal complexities of social media screening alone. "What I appreciate as a senior leader is that I don’t have to think about it anymore," says Hartman. "I know that Fama is going to take care of us, keep improving the product, and help us navigate compliance."

This peace of mind is reinforced by a five-year relationship rooted in high-touch support. Despite Fama’s AI-driven innovation, Academic Search emphasizes the "extraordinary" customer service that manages short turnaround times and custom packages. It’s this combination of cutting-edge tech and a responsive partnership that has led the firm to choose Fama, even after evaluating other providers from time to time. As Hartman concludes, “The institutions have entrusted us to help protect them, and Fama helps us do that.”

About Fama

Fama is a talent screening solution that helps employers identify candidate or employee behaviors that create risk for their organizations. For today’s digitally connected workforce, risks often appear online first. Fama’s AI-native platform analyzes text, images, and video across a person’s social media & online presence to surface workplace-relevant behavior risk signals. Our solution is compliant with the FCRA, GDPR & AI privacy frameworks and can be configured to match each company’s code of conduct.

Founded in 2015, Fama is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. We’re backed by some of the world’s leading investors, and have raised more than $30M. Learn why over 3,600 companies trust Fama at www.fama.io.

‍