Board of Directors
Michelle Caldwell has been a CSR for 36 years and has served as CCRA's President since 2024. A lifelong lover of language, she has also been a freelance writer covering news, politics, and special-interest stories. After retiring as an official reporter for Santa Clara County, Michelle is now happily enjoying her return to freelance life. Michelle is passionate about legislation affecting the profession and advocating on behalf of reporters. She and her husband live along California’s Central Coast, where they raised two sons and now dote on their grandchildren, Mikinley & Macallan. 
Tamara Houston has been a California CSR for nearly 40 years. She started her career freelancing both in criminal and civil court. Emerald Deposition Reporters was formed in 1995 by Tamara while she continued improving her skills and professional representation as a CSR within the industry. After obtaining her CCRR in 2010, Tamara joined Caption Colorado to cover national broadcasting from home in her "spare" time while working as a full-time reporter. Tamara began on the CCRA Board serving as a District director for CCRA in 2017 and was elected president in 2021. After serving two consecutive terms as president, Tamara served as immediate past president and is currently president elect for 2025/2026. The experiences while serving on the Board have been invaluable, especially within the legislative processes. Tamara is passionate about being involved, learning, listening to new ideas, and sharing the knowledge and experience that has been gained over the years to help the evolution and empowerment of current and future court reporters. Her family life focuses on time with her two adult daughters, exotic animal rescue and rehabilitation on her ranch, as well as attending the rodeos of her youngest daughter Annie, a graduate of UC Davis and accomplished breakaway roper. 
Stacy Gaskill has been a dedicated court reporter since becoming licensed in 1996. She began her official court reporting career with the San Mateo County Superior Court in 1999, where she has reported hearings and trials in all case types. In the fall of 2023, Stacy expanded her skillset by attending West Valley Community College to learn voice writing, and by July 2024, became a licensed voice writer. Beyond her work in the courtroom, Stacy serves as the Chapter Chair for her union, SEIU Local 521, representing court reporters at the San Mateo County Superior Court, and is currently involved with the Labor/Management Committee, contract negotiations, and has served as a steward for the past 15 plus years. Stacy served on the Board of the California Official Court Reporters Association (COCRA) from 2008 to 2019, including a two-year term as President. Throughout her career, she has been dedicated to advancing the profession and supporting the court reporting community. “As a new Board member with CCRA, I remain committed to our profession and will continue to be a staunch supporter for the court reporting community through labor advocacy and professional development for all Certified Shorthand Reporters.” 
Cindy Tachell began her career in January of 1990 as a freelancer, reporting depositions, arbitrations, and public hearings. She became an Official Reporter Realtime with the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1996 and has reported in civil, family law, and criminal courtrooms. Cindy is the Immediate Past President of the Los Angeles County Court Reporters Association. She’s chaired the Legislative Committee and helped to work on legislation to provide Californians with the best record of court proceedings. “Give 15 minutes to your association.” 
Brooke Ryan graduated from Humphrey’s College in 1996. She quickly became a Pro Tem for the Sacramento Superior Court which led to an officialship in 2001. In 2003 Brooke was elected CCRA Legislative Council Representative for the Sacramento Officials Court Reporters Association which began her affinity for CCRA. It was around this same time she became a board member for her union, United Public Employees. She ultimately became Chair of the union board and held that position for numerous years. At the same time she was nominated for a Board of Directors position with CCRA. She worked her way up through the positions culminating in her first presidency in 2016. She was re-elected as president in 2017. In 2020, Brooke left her officialship to become a freelancer. Her goal was to come back to CCRA this time as a freelancer. Her passion lies in legislation. She has helped advocate for multiple bills on behalf of CCRA over the years. Brooke has two boys, Oliver and Truman, and together they love to travel the world. 
Priscilla Gwaltney has been court reporting since 2008. She began her career as a freelance court reporter. In 2014, she became employed as an official with Contra Costa County. As of 2022, she went back to freelancing and began working as a part-time official with Sacramento Superior Court in the Family Law Relations Department. She feels she gets the best of both worlds by working as a freelancer and an official. In 2019, she obtained her RPR. She is very passionate about helping students. She takes pride in finding areas where students need help and executing ways to help them reach their CSR goals. She has served on the CCRA Board of Directors since 2019 and has grown to love all CCRA committee work and tries to help as many committees as possible. Her passion for the court reporting profession has grown immensely since becoming a board member. As a strong advocate for the court reporting profession, Priscilla is always recruiting others to join CCRA's mission. If you are interested in joining her committee, please reach out to her. 
Elena Murphy obtained her CVR in 2022 after completing coursework at West Valley College and passing the test in Atlanta. She worked freelance, remotely, for an agency in Gainesville, GA, primarily in Athens Clarke-County State Court but also taking down depositions and sitting in other courtrooms in nearby counties. After voice writing became legal in California, she took the next CSR test and passed, becoming the first licensed CSR voice writer (and only) in California. She is happy she’s not the only one anymore. She was hired at Santa Clara County’s Superior Court and has been enjoying getting to do in-person court after being remote for almost a year. She is excited to grow her knowledge and experience and share it with new and aspiring court reporters as well as growing and advocating for voice writing in California. When not in court, Elena enjoys hanging out with her family, hockey, reading, and various types of crafting. 
Veronica Bertolucci has been a court reporter since 2003. She began her career working for a local deposition firm and then joined Kern County Superior Court as an official in 2005. During her years as an official, Veronica has reported all case types and is currently assigned to a felony trial courtroom. She also provides CART services for hearing-impaired litigants. She is a member of SEIU and currently serves as the president of her chapter. She has negotiated several contracts as a member of the bargaining team and is also a shop steward. Veronica has taught at the local court reporting school in the past and she hopes to teach again soon. She is a mentor for students and new court reporters when they are hired at Kern County Superior Court. When not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters. One of her favorite weekend activities is attending her daughters’ sports events. Veronica is looking forward to serving on the CCRA Board of Directors and being more involved with others to promote and improve court reporting. 
I have been a California Court Reporter since 1997. I first got my Nevada CSR license and then attained my California CSR in 1998. I started work immediately in Court. Back then, you had arrived when you became an official. I was an official for 23 years. My main arena was family law, and I worked in a heavy-transcript courtroom. Many celebrities and sports figures appeared in my courtroom. In 2013, OCSC made reporters part-time employees. In 2018, I went to work for LA because it was full-time. It was a great experience, but the travel was just too much. I came back to OC right before the pandemic. I missed my friends so much. It felt good to be home. One of my proudest accomplishments was winning an appeal for all pro tem reporters that allowed officials to buy back their time while being pro team reporters. It was life-changing for a lot of us, and I got to retire seven years early. I am now private and have many private clients. It has been the best thing I’ve ever done, work-wise. When not in the courtroom, I love to paint. The form is called Mandala dotting. I started a group on FB and now have almost 37,000 followers on my page. I am also a Gemologist. Jewels are my passion. I have a very kind and supportive husband, an adorable and incredibly successful son, two cats, and a tortoise. I am loving the niche I have created for myself as a board member of CCRA. I am proud to be the engineer of the reincarnated mentoring program now known as "The Wisdom Exchange." It will be a fantastic avenue for new and working reporters to get the guidance they need to become self-confident reporters and pay it forward by helping other reporters find our program. I see it becoming very successful and going nationwide. Life is good. 
Kristi Johnson became licensed in the state of California in 2002 and immediately began working in the freelance field. After 16 years in the deposition arena, in 2018 Kristi made the difficult decision to leave freelancing and become an official reporter with Orange County Superior Court. Since February of 2019, Kristi has been assigned to a long-cause criminal courtroom where the majority of what she reports are more complex criminal cases. Kristi started volunteering in 2011 with the California Deposition Reporters Association. She served as a district representative and later as president from 2013 to 2014. Currently, she serves as a court steward, is the vice president of the Orange County Superior Court Reporters Association, and serves on committees for her state associations. Kristi firmly believes volunteering for your profession and continuing education is a must. You should never stop striving to improve your knowledge base, your realtime, and your technical abilities. That is what will continue to keep us relevant and a necessary part of the judicial process. In Kristi’s free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, and her three rescue dogs and traveling. 
Jessica Borynack attended Sage College of Court Reporting and has spent her career as an enthusiastic supporter of the profession. Her passion for reporting is palpable and infectious, as evidenced by her long list of accomplishments as both a court reporter and CART captioner. She has served the profession well in a career that has spanned a variety of freelance work, including dedicating herself to the art of CART captioning, and most recently has broadened her professional career even wider as an official for the United States Judiciary. 
Alyssa Pacheco is a freelance reporter who covers both depositions and trials, with over 16 years of experience in official and freelance reporting. Reporting is her passion, and she enjoys constantly refining her writing, expanding her dictionary, and mastering her reporting software. She is also dedicated to supporting reporters at all stages of their careers and is serving her first year on the CCRA board. Outside of reporting, Alyssa enjoys spending time with her family and English bulldog, reading, dancing, and exploring new foods as a devoted foodie. 
Gloria Peterson serves as Executive Director of the California Court Reporters Association. |
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