About Us
Our History
Established in San Diego in 1988, Network Interpreting Service is one of the earliest private sign language interpreting referral agencies in the United States.
Our Mission & Philosophy
Our mission has always been simple: To improve the lives of those we work with and those we serve through flexibility, hard work, and quality service. We strive to make this a reality by listening to our employees, customers and suppliers and then responding in ways that reflect this commitment.
500,000+
Scheduled Appointments
7361
Deaf Clients Served
1,000,000+
Service Hours
90%
Job Fill Rate
Timeline
1988
Our company was founded in Encinitas, California (San Diego County) in 1988
1993 / Expanded to Idaho
In 1993 the founder and president moved to Idaho for family reasons while the vice president remained in San Diego.
2004 / Gridcheck Completed
In 2004 we began using Gridcheck for scheduling and management of the business. Not long after this we began leasing the software to other organizations.
2010 / Going Virtual
We’ve always had some employees working from home but in 2010 we closed our office space in Burley, Idaho and went 100% virtual.
2018 / Spoken Languages Join In
In 2018 we begin offering over 170 spoken languages over video and telephone both on-demand and by appointment.
2021 / Gridcheck Spins Off
In 2021 we partner with CSD to spin Gridcheck off into Gridcheck LLC.
Cliff Hanks / President
With the guidance of a business adviser in San Marcos, California, Cliff founded NIS in 1988, when the company relied on typewriters, landlines, pagers, notebooks, and pencils. He memorized the locations of almost every payphone in San Diego county and used a pocket-dialer to expedite the process. For over 30 years, he has led NIS with a true sense of kindness, compassion, and humor that we all appreciate. Cliff is a gifted storyteller, an open-minded and supportive leader who considers every idea, and he has a wealth of unread messages in his sprawling inboxes. In addition to researching email protocols, Cliff pushes his staff to embrace new apps and procedures to achieve continuous improvement. He is deeply involved in both the front and back ends of the business, and he isn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves and provide interpreting services when needed.
Before NIS Cliff worked as:
- Staff interpreter at Cal State Univ Northridge (CSUN)
- Community interpreter with OC-Deaf (GLAD) in Los Angeles and Orange Counties
- Interpreter coordinator at Deaf Community Services of San Diego
- Staff interpreter at San Diego State University
If you haven't worked with us before, please be in touch!