President – Cassandra Ellis
RMR RDR CRR RSA CCR-WA CSR-HI CSR-CA
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and a graduate of Green River Community College, Cassandra has been a certified court reporter since 1993 and providing realtime in a CART setting prior to graduation. Starting her reporting career in the arbitration realm, Cassandra has worked in a variety of venues for reporting, including traveling overseas for depositions and arbitrations, as well as providing CART for disability conferences. She moved with her family to Maryland in August of 2002.
Cassandra has lived and worked in Asia, Germany, and Hawaii, providing CART and realtime, covering a myriad of disability events and board meetings for companies such as Seimens, Osram, and Ferrari, and traveling across many countries. Cassandra is a freelance deposition reporter specializing in realtime, patents, and pharmaceutical cases both in person and remotely and lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. When not working, Cassandra spends her spare time with her husband and their miniature dachshunds, their horses, and their children and grandchildren. For fun, she attends dog shows, grooms her horses and her dogs, enjoys reading for pleasure, and practices on her machine at least 15 minutes per day.
Vice President – Kathy Cortopassi, RDR, CRR, CRC, RSA
Providing CART/captioning services for over 25 years, Kathy Cortopassi is committed to providing the highest quality services possible. Before starting Voice to Print Captioning, Kathy was a court reporter for over 10 years and owned C&S Reporting, a court reporting company with offices in Chicago, IL, and Hammond, IN with more than nine court reporters on her team. Kathy is currently one of only 30 in the U.S. to have earned all of the National Certifications from the National Court Reporters Association and has been nominated for the EDGE Award from the Small Business Development Center in Indiana. Kathy is currently is a past President of the South Carolina Court Reporters Association, and has served on National Court Reporters Association committees.
Treasurer – Position Available
If interested please email us…
Secretary – Stephanie Barnes
Stephanie Barnes has been a freelance reporter in DC, Maryland, and Virginia for about six years. I have done everything from depositions, Senate Committee hearings, trials, arbitrations, and school board meetings. I also have experience working for InnoCaption as a captioner. Captioning was immensely rewarding, especially as I captioned during the height of COVID, and in my own way, helped many stay connected. My passion, though, is depositions.
Since being a freelance reporter, I have had two amazing children, now two and three. Freelance has allowed me the opportunity to both pursue my passion and raise my small babies, which I am eternally grateful for.
I look forward to serving on the board and bringing whatever expertise and assistance is needed. This career holds a special spot in my heart, and I look forward to promoting the profession in any way I can.
Director – Al Betz
Al Betz has been known as court reporter, pioneer, entrepreneur, author, CEO, volunteer, podcast host, coach, and public speaker.
Al’s life philosophy is that daily achievements lead to significant accomplishments. Whether reading 10 pages from a favorite book, interviewing a business leader on his podcast, or signing an important contract, Al experiences personal and/or professional growth every day.
His business career began at age 19, and 50+ years later he remains active, and he enjoys learning, communicating, and creating. His favorite topics are silent communication and inspired performance. “Not one human being is ever taught how to communicate, and we see the results of it daily in our homes and in the workplace.” Al learned the value of an inspired performance at a Kenny G concert. He applied what he saw to his own performance, and it changed his life. Al can be reached at al.betz@outfluence.com and at 301.471.0498
Director – Kerry Robinson
I started pursuing court reporting in January of 2019 when I started my first semester as an online student with Arlington Career Institute. While I was attending ACI, I worked for the Court of Common Pleas for Kent County, Delaware. In 2021, I moved to Maryland and married my husband. We have built a life in a small town that we love; however, we have plans to travel the world and see where life takes us.
In December of 2022, I graduated from Arlington Career Institute, and I accepted my first court reporting position as an official court reporter for the Circuit Court of Wicomico County, Maryland. Since starting this career, I have fallen in love with it and have developed a passion for wanting to share it with others
Director – Juanita “Nita” Price
I have over 39 years of experience in stenography, i.e., depositions, medical malpractice, court trials (various types of civil litigation, probate, custody, juvenile hearings, burglaries, robberies, various assaults – from minor to severe, and homicides).
I am a Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) and a Federal Certified Realtime Reporter (FCRR).
I currently work at DC Superior Court as an Official Realtime Court Reporter, CART Captioner, and Captioner (captioning court events as requested by the courts) for over 15 years. I was on the DC Superior Court CART (Communications Access Realtime Translation) Team that assisted our Leadership Team in implementing Reporters who elected to provide CART for the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Community to get compensated as well as have the NCRA Certified Realtime Captioner’s (CRC) mandatory seminar paid for through the courts.
I serve on various committees (Membership Marketing Outreach Committee and NCSA – National Congress of State Associations Governing Committee) as well as currently serving as MCRA’s (Maryland Court Reporter Association) Director.
Committee Member – Cindy L. Sebo
RMR CRR CSR-CA NYACR NYRCR
She is a highly sought after for high-powered litigation and has reporter. having taken depos of Christopher Reeves, Colin Powell, Michael Strahan and Virginia Guifree (involved in the Prince Andrew/Jeffrey Epstein litigation), just to name a few.
Cindy also transcribed some of the Nixon tapes for film and books, and Cindy also traveled extensively for reporting assignments to different parts of the world, including Japan, UK, Canada, Mexico, Italy, France.
Cindy also has had the opportunity to play the court reporter on television shows (We Own this City and House of Cards). On House of Cards, she was asked to be a consultant on the set for the scenes related to a reporter on the House Floor and was instrumental to the producer for some of House of Cards’ scenes.
Cindy is married to her business partner/scopist and, in her free time, enjoys her two doggies, Frenchie and Coconut; Rupaul’s Drag Race; Drag Show Brunches with my very dear friends; shopping and selling on Poshmark and Mercari; learning new briefs!!!