Eric Madden is the man behind i9 Advantage. With a bachelor's degree in software architecture, Eric has taken the concept of online Form I-9 completion and successfully grown it into a thriving business.

The idea for i9 Advantage came about when a client of Eric's was audited by I.C.E. and had to scramble to scan and verify thousands of I-9 Forms in a short period. Not only did the audit process take 50 employees on 24 hour shifts a full two weeks to scan and send in the Forms, it cost well over $200,000 in payroll, plus hundreds of thousands in fines for accidental hiring of illegal immigrants.

Like a true entrepreneur, Eric took a negative and turned it into a business concept; provide inexpensive Form I-9 storage, completion, validation and verification. These key services will allow any U.S. company or organization to avoid or minimize the hassle and costs associated with illegal hires, Form I-9 errors and I.C.E. audit procedures.

Eric Bort joined the i9 Advantage team at its conception in early 2006 as the Creative & Marketing Director. Eric has been an entrepreneur immersed in the world of training, design and educational game development for over 10 years, and has a BFA in multimedia development.

The true challenge for Eric was taking the government's E-Verify system and integrating it in with a user friendly, visually intuitive interface. Through branding, good design, extensive user testing and a solid dose of genius, Eric has given each and every i9 Advantage client the opportunity to easily manage their I-9 Forms, and dare we say, enjoy the experience while they're at it.

Eric also currently works as member and creative director of the popular nonprofit Edheads.org. With over 2.5 million unique users a month and the ever popular Virtual Knee Surgery, Edheads.org will give you a sense of Eric's wild, more humorous side of training and educational development.

José E. Latour served as a U.S. Diplomatic and Consular Officer before beginning private law practice in the U.S. in 1990, focusing on corporate immigration and labor law compliance.   Since then, José has assisted hundreds of regional, national, and multinational corporations in establishing multi-jurisdiction compliance programs.  His areas of focus include I-9/employment authorization policy, Social Security enforcement, and global staff deployment planning.

José is AV rated by Martindale-Hubble and has received awards and distinctions throughout his legal career from organizations including Inc. Magazine, Florida Trend Magazine, and Cisco Systems.  He is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the Florida Bar.

In addition to his work with i9 Advantage, José serves as General Counsel and co-founder of One World Development Group International, Inc., a non-profit enterprise delivering vector control, disease-prevention, and community education/information services in sub-Saharan Africa.

José welcomes you to check out his Immigration Insider blog.