Brian Poe

Brian Christopher Poe
Born	November 20, 1969 Maysville, Kentucky
Alma mater	Transylvania University
Occupation	Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist, Investor

Brian Christopher Poe (born November 20, 1969) is an American businessman most commonly known for his pioneering of second chance opportunities for American citizens with a criminal record. He is currently the majority shareholder and CEO for Corrisoft, LLC and Deleo Worldwide, and founder of the indie record label Kyra Fox Records.

Early life

Poe was born in Maysville, Kentucky and was reared in Lexington, Kentucky. Poe graduated from Lafayette High School and attended Transylvania University. Prior to attending college, Poe enlisted in the United States Navy and served during the first Gulf War. He was named Sailor of the Year of Civil Engineering and Sailor of the Quarter of COMNAVBASE Norfolk, Virginia. He had aspirations of attending the Naval Academy but was denied due to active duty injuries. After five years of service he was medically processed out of the military with an honorable discharge and recognized as a war time veteran.

Career with ex-offenders

Poe is currently the founder and CEO of two technology companies; Corrisoft and EAS Technologies (subsidiary of Deleo Worldwide.

Corrisoft is a leading monitoring and support company working with early release, probation and parole participants. Corrisoft has several patents involving technology and recidivism. The company operates nationwide and encompasses very low to very high risk participants. Corrisoft offers 3 levels of monitoring/tracking with patent pending GPS technology as well as a 24/7 sector specialist call center focused on rebuilding lives. The company maintains a 65% employment rate within the first 10 days entering the program. Extremely high rates of successful housing, educational, subbstance abuse and mental health placement have been applauded.

Upon realizing that more than 81 million Americans have a criminal record, he wanted to do more to help. He knew there were good people who had made mistakes and paid their dues and that a criminal record was, in effect, a life sentence. Very few places will hire ex-offenders with the exception of Goodwill Industries and some others.

Through extensive research he soon realized that all states provide some type of relief from a criminal record. He also discovered that not only does every state have a different form of relief, but the process and form of relief could vary county by county, within the same state.

Poe spent many years traveling and researching the subject; he spoke to experts and court administrators from Maine to Alaska, and developed an easy-to-use guide to assist people with the process specific to their court jurisdiction.

After posting The Guide to Expungements and Pardons online, many non-profit and legal aid organizations, as well as hundreds of individuals, began contacting Poe for assistance. The surge of requests brought along the birth of EAS Technologies, a division of Deleo Worldwide, and the website http://www.clearmyrecord.com. Poe hired attorneys and software developers to automate the process for each and every county in the United States. Over ten thousand clients have approached EAS Technologies for assistance, far exceeding any other expungement service or law firm. EAS is also the only online expungement service provider to have federal pardons approved by the President of the United States. (EAS does not accept applicants with extremely violent records, crimes against children, or acts of sexual violence.)

In November 2008, EAS Technologies re-launched ClearMYrecord.com with a new automated form filling service. This allows the customer to qualify themselves, determine the form of relief for which they are eligible and then fill out and print the forms from their computer. It was built using the CakePHP framework and was considered so revolutionary that EAS Technologies employees were invited to speak about it at CakeFest, a 3-day event about the framework software.

Due to the incredible demand for expungement services, ClearMYRecord.com has gone to a wholesale strategy by enlisting resellers to take services to a broader reach. With an estimated 25% of the US population burdened with criminal records, millions of individuals may be eligible for these services. ClearMYRecord does not offer legal advice nor positions itself to take the place of an attorney or law firm. It assists ex-offenders in their self-directed efforts to clear the barriers that impede a second chance.

Poe soon realized expunging a record or receiving a pardon was not the final step to fully clearing a criminal record. The courts and the Governor’s offices that grant these approvals do not contact or update the hundreds of commercial and governmental databases that buy and sell criminal records. Thus, even though an individual had a record expunged, it was still publicly available. He became very concerned about these online databases utilized by employers and landlords. Poe realized that much of this data is incorrect or not updated after receipt of an approved order of expungement or pardon (the courts simply cannot contact and ensure that hundreds of databases retain quality data). Poe is also spear heading an effort to enact a Fair Criminal Record Reporting Act on the federal level to ensure citizens rights are protected from the errors and lack of records updating of criminal record data. Currently no oversight agency exists to monitor these database companies.

Through processing thousands of expungement requests it was obvious to Poe that citizens simply had to clear their names to obtain quality employment. To address this need Poe established the organization Hard2Hire. Employers are provided access to a wealth of talent and are also assisted by Hard2Hire in obtaining grants and bonds for the hiring of ex-offenders. Hard2Hire is a free service for job seekers.

Previous career

Upon leaving the military Poe started a small construction company to help pay for college and his newborn son. He offered laborers and subcontractors to large builders for residential and commercial projects. The success of this company led to Poe being named one of the Top 30 Young Entrepreneurs in the South.

Poe took on investment partners and the company evolved into a general contracting firm designing and building residential developments, hotels, restaurants and commercial structures. Poe eventually sold out to his partners who moved the operation to Indiana.

An avid sports fan, Poe visited many recruiting combines for future collegiate athletes. He began writing about prospects online and soon developed a large following. It was not long before Poe was approached by a large sports internet firm to launch his own website and message boards (bigbluenation.com). Poe was instrumental in the evolution of recruit reporting, being the first to showcase high school and junior high highlights of prospective recruits. Popularity of the website eventually led to radio shows with Clear Channel on weeknights, pre- and post game reports and Sunday morning call in shows. Poe also produced a weekly collegiate and high school highlight television show contracted through ESPN2, Fox Sports South, and local CBS affiliates. Poe then established an apparel manufacturing division and assisted in the opening of retail outlets with NCAA, SEC and NIKE rights.

In 2002 the University demanded that Poe withdraw his trademark application for the name "Big Blue Nation" which had become the title of the website, radio and television shows, as well as the magazine and apparel outlets. Poe was the first to use the phrase in commerce, even though its only association with the university began a year prior on a free McDonalds poster, and UK never attempted to trademark the phrase. Poe offered to share the name with Kentucky, however his offer was refused. At the time Poe was a pioneer in the collegiate world, gathering interviews and video of recruits long before youtube and other outlets. His connections spread from coast to coast and he was featured in many recruiting publications and sports radio shows.

The University claimed contacts with recruits were an NCAA infraction, as well as Poe's much publicized announcements to fans of which players UK was recruiting and where and when they were playing. The university launched a full scale attack on Big Blue Nation and Poe. Banning his employees from covering games, even employees who had press credentials from other outlets such as Fox News and ClearChannel. They were instrumental in having his radio shows cancelled by ClearChannel (the flagship station of the University), the school also contacted other schools which would not allow Poe and his staff in the games upon arrival. UK was determined to break the company, labeling Poe as a fan and booster, although he only attended UK for only one year, completing his education at Transylvania and never providing any financial or other type of support to the University.

The compliance office at UK filed NCAA sanction reports on Poe for interviewing recruits on CBS and ESPN2. Looking back, the violation appears almost unbelievable, today most fan websites have full access, media credentials and contact recruits at any time. According to documents filed, Poe only discussed recruiting with players during radio and television interviews. The NCAA never replied to Poe regarding the University's accusations, nevertheless Kentucky sentenced Poe to a 27 year ban from the University crippling his fledgling company. In order to try to salvage any return for the company's few investors, including his parents, Poe agreed not to take his case public, in hopes of selling off the few assets the company owned, 17 employees were laid off. The university began an aggressive campaign using the phrase and even Poe's reverse swoosh logo on billboards and printed materials.

Open records requests were filed many times by others to determine if Poe had in fact violated NCAA rules, to this date nothing has been reported. Rumors have been around for several years that Poe actually wrote a book on the matter titled "Big Blue Screw" , which includes many unsavory actions regarding the University, however this publication has never been released. According to some, the situation has been resolved, at least on the personal level, as Poe has been seen in Southland Christian Church and youth baseball leagues with UK Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart. Despite being labelled just a fan, no other person or company has launched such an extensive media company covering print, radio, major TV, web and apparel before or since Poe's Big Blue Nation.

Despite other offers, Poe totally divorced himself from the world of sports and dove deeper into his research of ex-offender research and providing people a means to a second chance on life.

In the media

On December 10, 2008, Poe appeared on Fox Business Network discussing the pardoning of white collar criminals. In particular he discussed the differences between a pardon and commutation, along with the cases of Conrad Black, Bernard Ebbers, and Michael Milken. Poe has also been quoted in most major publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, USA Today, Forbes, Investors Business Daily and many more.

Personal life

Poe has two sons, Kalin and Jamal (adopted).^{[citation needed]}

Other work and activities

• CEO, Founder of Deleo Worldwide LLC, parent company of EAS Technologies, LLC and other technology based companies.
• Founder of Hard2Hire; a nationwide employment matching service for employers and ex-offenders.
• Founded a children's organization “kids helping kids” in Lexington, Kentucky. He built a baseball field and provided teams for children who could not afford recreational league fees.
• Primary sponsor of the 2003 KHSAA State Baseball Championship Games
• Nominated as a Top 40 Under 40 U.S. CEO by Entrepreneur magazine
• Top 30 Young Entrepreneurs in the South by Historian Magazine
• Trustee of the Kentucky State Chamber of Commerce
• Bronze Level Trustee of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce
• Associate Member of the American Bar Association
• Affiliated Supporter of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association
• Kentucky Hispanic Association
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• National Urban League
• Ex-Offender Programs across the country
• American Cancer Society
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

External links

• Corrisoft - Founder and CEO
• ClearMYrecord.com - Founder and CEO
• Hard2Hire.org - Founder and CEO