Steno Allstar Keynote Speakers
Whitney Kumar CSR, CCRR, CLR (REMOTE) | Whitney Kumar is the Court Stenographer for Judy Justice, the landmark courtroom program featuring Judge Judy Sheindlin from IMDb TV, Amazon’s free streaming service. Whitney is a graduate of South Coast College and has been a deposition and official reporter in California since 2006. Whitney boasts a highly diverse skill set as a certified shorthand reporter due to her tenure as an official reporter within the Los Angeles Superior Court where she reported many high-profile cases. With extensive experience reporting cases from deposition through the courtroom, Whitney has garnered a deep knowledge of the entire life cycle of civil cases in California. While at the Los Angeles Superior Court, she led the official record for high-profiles cases such as Britney Spears v. Kevin Federline, Mel Gibson v. Oksana Grigorieva, and the Los Angeles Dodger owners Frank McCourt v. Jamie McCourt. Drawing on her love of reporting and her expertise within the courtroom, Whitney founded KW Court Reporting with her twin sister Kamryn in 2013. |
Kimberly Xavier– RDR, CRR, CRC, CRI, CMRS Texas CSR, TMR, TCRR, CART Level III (IN PERSON) | Kimberly Xavier, founder of Stenovator Pathway Solutions, Inc., has been a court reporter since 1994 and is a Texas Certified Shorthand Reporter. She discovered court reporting as she separated from the U.S. Air Force and attributes most of her steno success to the lingering effects of military discipline. She holds multiple certifications in Texas as well as NCRA, including the most prestigious of all certifications, the Registered Diplomate Reporter. She is a 3-time Texas Speed Cup Champion and a Texas Realtime Competition Champion as well as an all-around qualifier in the NCRA Speed Contest. She has served on many committees for court reporting organizations and has held multiple board positions at local and state levels. |
Presenters
Allison Hall, RDR, CRR, CSR | Allison is a court reporter of 20 years and currently works as a freelance reporter. Allison also teaches eager court reporting students at Tulsa Community College, Oklahoma State University Oklahoma City, and The College of Court Reporting. Allison enjoys public speaking and has taught seminars on shortening writing styles, efficiency, the future of court reporting, how to be an effective mentor, focused practice, and legal education seminars to both judges and attorneys. Allison earned her first medal in NCRA’s National Speed Contest in 2021. Allison qualified in NCRA’s National Speed Contest in 2018. Allison qualified in NCRA’s National Realtime Contest in 2018. Allison qualified in NCRA’s National Speed Contest in 2016. Allison is the recipient of the 2022 Steno in the City Philanthropist Award in recognition of passion, commitment, and unstoppable initiative. Allison is the recipient of the 2020 Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice Award of Excellence in recognition of outstanding contributions to the Oklahoma Judiciary. Allison is the recipient of the Oklahoma Court Reporters Association Distinguished Reporter Award for 2018. Allison is a Certified Shorthand Reporter in Oklahoma, a Registered Professional Reporter, a Certified Realtime Reporter, a Registered Merit Reporter, and a Registered Diplomate Reporter. Allison holds an Associate in Applied Science Degree in Court Reporting from Central Penn College in Summerdale, Pennsylvania. |
Anthony Frisolone, FAPR, RDR, CRR, CRI | Anthony’s career as a court reporter spans over 29 years working in New York City. Currently, he is an Official Court Reporter in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, New York. Anthony served as the New York State Court Reporters Association president from 2004-2006. He served on the board of the United States Court Reporters Association from 2016-2017 and the Federal Courts Court Reporters Advisory Group from 2014-2018. Anthony has authored close to three dozen articles that have been published in the Journal of Court Reporting. Anthony is a frequent seminar presenter on a variety of professional issues with a focus on software training for court reporters as a Stenograph Certified Training Agent. |
Charisse Kitt, CRI, CSR, CCR, RDR, FCRR | Charisse Kitt, is a court reporter with the New York State Supreme Court Civil Division. She is going on her 30th year as a court reporter, having worked prior at the Eastern District of New York Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York, and Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta, Georgia. During the pandemic, Charisse didn’t take the time she had off for granted. She utilized that time to obtain a few more certifications. She got her California license, New Jersey license, her RDR, and she passed the machine portion for Texas. Charisse is a firm believer in certification. She has experienced firsthand the benefits of certification in her career, allowing |
Judy Bellinger, RPR, CRR | Judith Bellinger, RPR, CRR, has been a freelance court stenographer since 1984, graduated |
Kayla Lotstein, CA CSR, CRR, CRC, RPR, CA-CRG, CA-CCG | Kayla Lotstein has been a professional stenographer since 2014. Thus far, she has been a freelance reporter, official, and captioner. Through her experience, she has kept abreast of industry trends and has developed a special interest in reporter awareness and the individual professional's self-care as well as the perceptions of our profession as a whole. |
Kendra James, RDR, CRR, FCRR, GA CSR | Kendra James is a graduate of Brown College of Court Reporting. She is a 22-year veteran |
Lisa Migliore Black, CCR-KY | Lisa Migliore Black is the owner of Migliore & Associates®, a freelance court reporting and videography firm located in Louisville, Kentucky. Lisa currently serves as immediate past president for the Kentucky Court Reporters Association, is a member of the NCRA Strong Committee, serves as an NCRA Brand Ambassador, and is co-founder of Court Reporting Reliance. In the past, she has served on the National Congress of State Associations Governing Committee, Task Force for Contracting, Ethics First, Freelance Community of Interest, and Election Committee for NCRA; the Ethics Committee, Legislative Committee, and Anti-Contracting Committee for KYCRA; and the Public Relations Committee for OCRA. Additional volunteer projects include the A to Z program, TRAIN, Veterans History Project, and pro bono service for the Innocence Project. Lisa has delivered presentations and authored articles on topics ranging from ethics, contracting, digital reporting, automated speech recognition, and cybersquatting for NCRA and many state associations |
Michelle Kirkpatrick, RDR, CRR, CRC, FCRR, CRCR (CO) | Michelle has been a court reporter since 1986, mostly in the legal freelance field, with a couple of short stints as a state official. Her current freelance business has evolved into focusing exclusively on providing highly technical realtime, immediate rough drafts, and |
Mike Hensley, RDR | Mike Hensley, RDR, is a freelance deposition reporter from Dublin, California. He is a leader of the new generation of court reporters, having completed his entire schooling remotely and online. Despite being young within the profession, Mike has worked hard to achieve goals of certification that are highly valuable in the industry. He has also reported challenging subject matter including complex technological, pharmaceutical, and intellectual property cases while providing realtime transcripts to those clients. He has a strong passion for inspiring and teaching others to develop new skills and abilities in many aspects of the court reporting trade, especially in areas related to technology. His energy and enthusiasm are infectious and will inspire the audience to seize the day and turn their dreams and goals into achievable realities. |
Ron Cook, CCR, CSR, FAPR, RDR, CRR, CCRR, CBC | Ron has been reporting for over 45 years, and is certified in California, Washington and Nevada. He was unofficially recognized as the guru of realtime reporting in the Pacific Northwest, and was one of nine reporters to pass the first-ever CRR, in 1992. He routinely competes in the NCRA speed and realtime contests and has won the Q&A portion of the realtime contest twice, in 2012 and 2016. He also competes in the California Deposition Reporters Association realtime contest, winning it all in 2018 and placing in the top three regularly. As a bucket list item, in 2019 Ron was able to travel to Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, and compete in the Intersteno competition, finishing 7th in both the speed and realtime competitions. Ron has given numerous seminars on how to be the best reporter you can be, both on the state and national level, and has been an officer of the Washington Court Reporters Association for several years. He is currently president-elect of WCRA. |
Rose Detloff, RMR, CRR | My name is Rose Detloff, and I am a court reporter from Tucson, Arizona in my first year as a new professional. I went to Oklahoma State University online for court reporting school, and I completed the program in 10 months. In less than two years from starting school, I have obtained the RPR, RMR, and CRR certificates, as well as qualifying in the National Speed Contest. I am thrilled to be presenting about the importance of certifications at Steno in the City! |
Scott L. Wallace, RDR, RMR, RPR, CRR | Scott Wallace is an official federal court reporter in the Eastern District of Virginia and has been in the court reporting field for over 30 years. He has held positions in the freelance field, city court, state court, and federal court, with a combined total of 34 years of court reporting experience. Scott’s experience has |
Shacara Mapp, CSR, RPR, RMR, FCRR, CRR | |
Sheri Smargon, RDR, CRR, CRC, FPR-C, M.A. | Sheri Smargon, captioned straight out of court reporting school, and has live captioned high-profile events like the Oklahoma City Bombing, 9/11 coverage, NBC Nightly News, NFL on FOX, the Stanley Cup Finals, the Olympics, the Voice, and the Golden Globe Awards. She provides CART and captioning in a variety of arenas, including governmental committee work, international symposia, and educational settings. She also teaches fundamental classes through the Oklahoma State University and Magnum Steno. She is the current President-Elect of the Florida Court Reporters Association. While on the FCRA Board, Sheri and her team were responsible for creating a voluntary certification for the steno and voice reporters in Florida. Sheri has competed on the national and international stage, winning several awards during Intersteno and the NCRA competition held last year in Orlando. She serves on several NCRA committees and has a master’s degree in psychology. Sheri lives just outside of Tampa, Florida, with her cats, Pita, Snuffy, Mocha, and her dog, Winnie the Whippet. |
Tori Pittman, BA, FAPR, RDR, CRI, CVR-CM-M, RCP | Tori has been part of the court reporting profession since the early ‘90s and is happy to state that she is still grateful for all the opportunities this profession has offered. From certifications and competitions, freelance reporting, officialdom, and scoping, to leadership, volunteering, mentoring, and most of all friendship, Tori LOVES court reporting and enjoys sharing her passion with others. PS: She also loves commas and has a love-hate relationship with technology. |