The members of the 2016 class of Academy of Professional Reporters Fellows will be honored at an award luncheon being held Aug. 6 during the 2016 NCRA Convention & Expo at the Chicago Hilton, Chicago, Ill., Aug. 4-7. This year, six NCRA members have been inducted as fellows of the Academy of Professional Reporters, which recognizes recipients for their outstanding and extraordinary qualifications and experience.
“Membership in the Academy of Professional Reporters is by nomination only, so to be granted fellowship is a high point in a reporter’s career,” said Mike Nelson, CAE, Executive Director and CEO of NCRA. “Criteria for being accepted include exhibiting outstanding and extraordinary qualifications and experience in the field of shorthand reporting, as well as having been active in the practice of reporting for at least 10 years. In addition, candidates for fellowship are required to have attained distinction as measured by such activities as the publication of important papers, creative contributions, service on committees or board, and teaching.”
The 2016 class of Fellows are as follows:
- Nancy J. Hopp, RDR, CRR, CMRS, is a freelancer from St. Louis, Mo., with more than 38 years of experience. She served for many years on Illinois’s Certified Shorthand Reporter board and has also served on numerous NCRA and Illinois Court Reporters Association (ILCRA) committees and task forces over multiple decades. She served several years as NCRA’s Midyear Conference Chair and has had a longstanding role as a contributing editor to the JCR. She was awarded ILCRA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2000.
- Lisa A. Knight, RDR, CRR, is a freelancer and former official from Littleton, Colo., with more than 32 years of experience. She has been a prolific author and committee volunteer for NCRA, especially with regard to technology, frequently serving as a committee chair or co-chair. In the 1980s, Knight pioneered one of two computer-integrated courtrooms in Arapahoe County, Colo., and was instrumental in bringing realtime awareness to the Denver metro area’s legal community. She has also served extensively for the Colorado Court Reporters Association (CCRA) and has received nearly every award that association gives, including the Distinguished Service Award in 2002, the Presidential Award in 1998, and the Court Reporter of the Year Award in 1996.
- Kimberley A. Neeson, RPR, CRR, CRC, is a freelancer and firm owner from Toronto, Canada, with more than 35 years of experience. In various leadership positions for the Chartered Shorthand Reporters’ Association (CSRA) of Ontario, including three terms as president, she has championed realtime and other stenographic technologies while campaigning against the implementation of digital audio recording in Ontario courts. In addition to appearing before various committees and media outlets, she has also published articles for the JCR and numerous other local and national publications. She was awarded Life Membership in CSRA in 2009, “in recognition of her outstanding activism and significant contributions to the profession.”
- Alan Peacock, RDR, CRR, CRC, is a broadcast and CART captioner from Mobile, Ala., with nearly 30 years of experience. He has been generous with his time, serving the Alabama Court Reporters Association (ACRA) as a board member and officer, NCRA as a member of several captioning-related committees, and the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities as an advocate and educator for the profession. He also holds an associate degree in interpreting and is a member of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Supporters of his nomination called him inspirational, yet approachable. He was awarded ACRA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2011.
- Jennifer L. Schuck, RDR, CRR, CRC, is a CART captioner from Scottsdale, Ariz., with 23 years of experience. In addition to serving on numerous CART captioning-related committees for NCRA and the Arizona Court Reporters Association (ACRA), she also serves on the advisory board of Gateway Community College’s court reporting program. She frequently makes presentations for NCRA, ACRA, and Intersteno, and she regularly provides pro bono CART services to a range of organizations, including NCRA and her local chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America. She is a frequent competitor in speed and realtime contests and has placed in the top three internationally several times over the past decade.
- Kathryn R. Sweeney, RMR, CRR, is a freelancer from Acton, Mass., with more than 27 years of experience. She served on the Massachusetts Court Reporters Association (MCRA) board for eight years, including two years as president, and she served for an impressive 17 years as a Chief Examiner for NCRA testing before brick-and-mortar testing ended in 2015, at which point she served as a beta tester for the new online testing platform. She has presented very popular CRR Boot Camp sessions aimed at preparing reporters for realtime certification for NCRA, MCRA, and other state court reporting associations. Nominators described her as upbeat, with a can-do attitude and a hands-on approach to leadership.
