Cathy Penniston is a court reporting teacher and independent broadcast captioner from Waukee, Iowa. Penniston worked as an official court reporter for the state of Iowa before transitioning into her broadcast captioning and teaching career. Cathy has also worked as a free­lance reporter and a CART captioner.

Penniston holds a Master of Arts Degree in Education, a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Business Administration, and an Associate’s Degree in Court Reporting. Penniston holds the national professional certifications of Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) and Certified Reporting Instructor (CRI).

At the national level, Penniston has served on numerous NCRA committees. She has served as a member of the NCRA Board of Directors since 2018, including serving as Secretary-Treasurer, Vice President and President-Elect.

At the state level, Penniston has served as president of the Iowa Court Reporters Asso­ciation. She is a recipient of the Roy Voelker Memorial Award for Distinguished Service for the court reporting profession of the state of Iowa, the Indian Hills Com­munity College Vision Award for Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014, and the Educational Excellence Award by the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International in May of 2024.

Margary Rogers, RPR, CRI, is a dedicated leader and advocate in the court reporting profession.  With 25-plus years of experience across freelance, official, and CART reporting in Washington, D.C., she is passionate about preserving stenography and advancing the mental and physical health of court reporters.

A strategic thinker, Rogers brings innovation and solutions to support the profession. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Court Reporting, an Associate of Science in Legal Assisting, and a Concentration in Psychology. She graduated from the D.C. Courts’ Management Training Program in Washington.

Rogers served as Director, Secretary, President-Elect, and President for two terms of the Maryland Court Reporters Association. An NCRA member for 28 years, she is the current chair of NCRA's Student/Teacher Committee, previously chaired NCRA's Membership Committee, and served on several NCRA committees. Rogers advocated at four NCRA Leadership & Legislative Boot Camps to protect our profession on Capitol Hill.

Rogers is a community builder who has pioneered initiatives like CRR Practice & Prep, Steno Karaoke, and the Steno Fitness Challenge. The first recipient of the NCRF Carl Sauceda Grant, Rogers shares her knowledge with students and stenographers by helping them advance their skills.

Brenda is an El Paso based movement specialist, Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT), and 500-hour certified Pilates instructor known for her accessible, functional approach to mobility. As a bone cancer survivor who rebuilt her strength after six major surgeries, Brenda specializes in adapting movement to fit real bodies and high-demand daily routines.

For over a decade, Jesse served in pastoral and nonprofit leadership — working closely with individuals and teams through growth, conflict, burnout, and transformation. That season shaped his conviction: leadership failures are rarely about a lack of information. They're almost always about a lack of awareness, intentionality, and support under pressure.

Today, Jesse works with leaders and organizations across industries to cultivate Relationally Intelligent leadership — the kind that builds trust, clarity, and cultures people actually want to be part of. He's known as a relentless encourager, a compassionate truth-teller, and a guide who sees what others miss and brings it into the light.

At his core, Jesse believes great leadership is not about ego or control — it's about presence, courage, and responsibility. And that when leaders grow healthier, entire cultures change as a result.

For over a decade, Jesse served in pastoral and nonprofit leadership — working closely with individuals and teams through growth, conflict, burnout, and transformation. That season shaped his conviction: leadership failures are rarely about a lack of information. They're almost always about a lack of awareness, intentionality, and support under pressure.

Today, Jesse works with leaders and organizations across industries to cultivate Relationally Intelligent leadership — the kind that builds trust, clarity, and cultures people actually want to be part of. He's known as a relentless encourager, a compassionate truth-teller, and a guide who sees what others miss and brings it into the light.

At his core, Jesse believes great leadership is not about ego or control — it's about presence, courage, and responsibility. And that when leaders grow healthier, entire cultures change as a result.

Sue Garcia is currently a freelance court reporter in the Puget Sound area of Washington state. She has been a CART captioning provider since 1999 and has worked as a certified court reporter in Washington state since 2001. 

Jo Gayle started her reporting career as a freelance reporter in Chicago in 1980. She started CART captioning in 2004, working remotely and onsite, covering meetings, trainings, webinars, board meetings, graduations, college classes, and national conventions. She has captioned a wide variety of people, including Supreme Court Justices, politicians, authors, journalists, news analysts, and entertainers. An interview she captioned of Tom Hanks went viral on Facebook and led to an article in the Journal of Court Reporting. Jo is a member of the National Court Reporters Foundation Angel Gatherers and the Ask Me Anything Task Force. In her spare time, Jo enjoys musical theater, road biking, and reading (thankfully not transcripts anymore). 

Angie Sundell began her career as a freelance court reporter in 1988. Since 2000 she has been providing CART captioning and broadcast captioning services exclusively. Angie is a member of the NCRA Captioning Committee, currently serves as Secretary of the Minnesota Association of Verbatim Reporters & Captioners, and is a delegate to the National Congress of State Associations (NCSA). 

Brad Benjamin worked behind the scenes in Hollywood for 10 years before deciding to pursue court reporting in his early 30s. In addition to being a full-time freelance court reporter in Chicago and President-Elect of the Illinois Court Reporters Association, Brad has also played a court reporter on TV! He has appeared in multiple episodes of “Chicago P.D. as well as the pilot episode of the series “Bosch: Legacy.” 

Susie Galvan is a California certified captioner/court reporter who provides realtime captioning across a wide range of settings. Susie’s work includes conferences, educational environments, government proceedings, and live entertainment events. 

As a travel captioner, Susie works nationwide to support accessibility and communication for the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. She is passionate about the power of realtime communication access and is committed to delivering accurate, high-quality captioning in fast-paced environments. 

In Susie’s downtime she likes to spend time with her family, try new food, and garden. 

As a professional captioner, Lidia brings spoken moments to life through precise, realtime text. Her work sits at the intersection of language, technology, and accessibility, and she takes pride in creating inclusive experiences for audiences of all kinds. Over time she has developed a reputation for calm focus and quick thinking, and an ear finely tuned to nuance. Whether supporting live events, educational settings, or fast‑paced productions, she aims to ensure that every word is captured clearly and every viewer feels included. Captioning isn’t just a technical skill for Lidia — it’s a craft rooted in respect for communication and the people who rely on it.

Breean Beggs has served as a Spokane County Superior Court Judge in Washington State since July of 2023. He was a litigation partner in the law firms of Paukert & Troppmann (Spokane) and Brett & Daugert (Bellingham), and he also directed the nonprofit Center for Justice for six years. He served on the Spokane City Council from 2016-2023, the last four years as Council President. For thirty-three years he effectively presented causes and cases in state and federal courts to juries, appellate judges, arbitrators, mediators, community groups and the media.  

Breean was awarded the Whitworth University 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award, the 2015 WSBA Norm Maleng Leadership Award, and the 2003 WSBA Local Hero Award. He graduated from Whitworth University and University of Washington School of Law with highest honors.

Jessie Liu is a freelance court-certified Mandarin interpreter in the states of California, Washington, and Nevada. Based in Southern California, Jessie has been interpreting in legal settings since 2018. Jessie also teaches English and Chinese court Interpreting. 
 
When Jessie isn’t doing her interpreting or teaching work, she is an active advocate of the translation and interpreting profession by volunteering her time at the American Translators Association (ATA). She is on the ATA board of directors and chairs the public relations committee. 
 
She is also on the leadership council of the Chinese Language Division of the ATA. Jessie hosts the Chinese Language Division podcast in which she invites professionals in the T&I field to talk about the most important and trending issues. 

Tianlu Redmon, CT, CI, MLCI, is a Houston-based legal translator and interpreter and the owner of a boutique agency dedicated to professional excellence and client education. Passionate about the future of the profession, she focuses on community-building and the evolving role of AI. Tianlu currently serves as Vice President of the American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation (AFTI) and as Language Chair for the ATA English-to-Chinese Certification Exam.  
 
Tianlu is certified by the American Translators Association (ATA) in both English-into-Chinese and Chinese-into-English translation — one of a handful of Chinese linguists in the U.S. to hold both qualifications. She is also a Texas Master Licensed Court Interpreter for Mandarin and qualified by the U.S. federal courts. Since moving to Houston in 2018, she has become a highly sought-after linguist by law firms in Texas and beyond.