President Janet Wright, CSR, RPR, has been a court reporter for 31 years. She graduated from Dallas Court Reporting College in 1979 and began a career that has covered freelance and official reporting. She is currently an official in County Court at Law No. 3 for Judge Sally Montgomery.
Previously, she was Judge Barefoot Sanders’ court reporter in Federal District Court. In a freelance capacity, she worked for Judges Maguire and Felsenthal in Bankruptcy Court and covered federal grand jury testimony and depositions for the United States Attorney’s Office. While working for Judge Felsenthal, it became necessary for him to take her to the hospital from the courtroom, where her youngest child was soon born.
Janet provides realtime reporting for Judge Montgomery, who has a hearing loss. She has obtained the RPR and the written portion and two legs of the RMR and, ultimately, WILL get her CRR.
Contact: (214) 653-7831 | jwrightcsr@aol.com
President-Elect Kimberly Xavier, CSR, RPR, RMR, CRR, BCRP, CRI, returns to the DCRA board for the second time around. She has previously served as Treasurer, Vice President, President-Elect, and President, and she is excited to be able to serve again.
Kimberly had never heard of court reporting until late 1992 when she had a random encounter with a casual friend; and to this day, she finds it amazing that she is a court reporter at all. She was able to finish school quickly even though she commuted 140 miles a day, while being separated from her husband and daughter and living with her mother. She attributes her success to practicing each day and typing tests each and every day, even when the speed was way above her skill level. Her hard work paid off when she qualified in August of 1994 on her birthday, only 17 months after starting school.
She began working for a Miami reporting firm, Jack Besoner & Associates, in January of 1995, but in January of 1996, she took a quick trip back to Texas and passed the Texas CSR, but still spent the remainder of that year in Florida, saving her money and preparing to return to Texas. Those hurricane seasons were no joke! Once back in Texas, she freelanced at Hoffman Reporting Services and Dickman Davenport. She has done mainly court work since January 2000 when she began working in the 363rd Judicial District Court with Judge Faith Johnson, and she is currently the Official Court Reporter for Criminal District Court No. 3 with Judge Gracie Lewis.
In 2005, she co-founded Elite Court Reporting Services, LLC, which has evolved into
KX & Associates.
Kimberly has obtained the RPR, RMR and CRR certifications as well as the new Board Certified Realtime Professional (BCRP) designation that is now offered by the Texas Court Reporters Association. In addition, she is a Certified Reporting Instructor and is currently working toward the Certified Manager of Reporting Services designation with NCRA. She competes yearly in the TCRA Paul Burris Speed Cup and Realtime Competitions and has done so since 2003. In addition, she occasionally competes on a national level in NCRA’s National Speed Competitions and Realtime Contests.
Kim gives back to the reporting community through internships and in-depth training of students and new reporters and she serves on committees for TCRA and DCRA.
She has been married to her husband, Ellister, for 19 years and plans to live vicariously through her daughter, Rene', when she goes off to college this fall. If you haven't met Kim yet or if you just haven't talked to her in a while, give her a call or drop her a line. But if you want to come by the house, call first, because she still has Felony, that big old Rottweiler.
Contact: (817) 729-3347 | xavier_k@msn.com
Vice President Patricia Holt, CSR, was born in Queens, New York, where she lived until moving to Dallas when she was 14 years old. She graduated from R.L. Turner High School in 1980 and attended junior colleges in pursuit of a career goal.
While court reporting was always a desire, Patricia was told that "technological advances" and the "computer age" threatened the existence of the court reporting profession, so she continued her career in accounting. After several years, she turned toward a career in human resources, which kept her happy for eight more years.
Finally, in 1998 when the court reporting profession was still going strong, Patricia enrolled in school at the Profession Career College in Richardson, Texas. In 2001, she transferred to the Court Reporting Institute of Dallas where she graduated in May of 2004.
Patricia works as a freelance reporter for deposition firms and the criminal court system in both Dallas and Fort Worth. She enjoys her work very much and wishes she had taken this career path many years ago.
Patricia has been happily married to her husband David since June of 1999. They have no children. They do have an eight-year-old dog named Sable, rescued from the SPCA in April of 2006.
Patricia is a member of the DCRA and served as historian in 2006 and Treasurer in 2009. She is also a member of the National Court Reporters Association.
Contact: (972) 741-7086 | patty.holt@sbcglobal.net
Secretary
Curtis High, CSR, has a reporting career spanning three decades. Upon graduation from Professional Court Reporting College in Richardson, he began his career in Atlanta, Georgia, with Brown & Huseby. Brown & Huseby was a very dynamic firm that instilled service to the profession and a sense of giving back into its reporters. As a result, that single firm is proud to have produced three NCRA Presidents and five state presidents out of one office. It makes reunions very unique and definitely a tough crowd to keep up with.
Upon returning to Dallas, Curtis worked as a Deputy Official in Federal Court for a while before becoming one of the officials in Bankruptcy Court for two years. At this point he returned to the freelance arena where he has been ever since, having spent time with Cross, Waldie & Associates; Affiliated Reporters; Collins, Miller, Guedry & High; DFW Multimedia; and presently as a solo practitioner with Curtis Reporting.
Remembering his roots at Brown & Huseby, Curtis has always made an effort to give back to the reporting community, serving on numerous committees and task forces over the past 20 years for both DCRA and TCRA, culminating with his service as President of DCRA in 1991 and President of TCRA in 2001/2002. In addition to his present duties with DCRA he is also serving as Chair of the Committee of Professional Ethics for NCRA. Career highlights include the Distinguished Service Award from DCRA and the Texas Hall of Fame from TCRA.
Curtis is a sports enthusiast who passionately follows the Cowboys, Mavericks, and University of Texas football. His spare time once upon a time was devoted to running, but after his third marathon his knees dictated a change of venue and he now is an avid tennis player and can be found most weekends on the courts with his current tennis team, the Greenhill Tennis Menace. Throw in an occasional continuing education class at SMU and a mandatory plate of enchiladas once a week, and you have captured the essence of this year's Secretary of DCRA.
Contact: (###) ###-#### | curtisreporting@gmail.com
Treasurer Debbie Hamon, CSR
Bio information unavailable at this time
Contact: (972) 571-6971 | dhamoncsr@yahoo.com
Historian Monica Seeley, CSR, RPR, CMRS, graduated from Professional Court Reporting in Richardson and became a CSR in 1978. She became a Certified Manager of Reporting Services in 1996.
Monica has owned a court reporting firm with Donna Collins since 1981, starting out as Embry, Fisher & Associates (both former married names) and currently named Collins Realtime Reporting.
She has served the Dallas Court Reporters Association as Vice-President (1986), Historian (1990), and Treasurer (1991-1993). She has been on the Advertising, Convention, and Ethics Advisory committees for TCRA.
From January of 1997 through July of 2003 Monica served on the Texas Court Reporters Certification Board.
Monica has two children, a son in Austin who has given her two beautiful grandchildren, and a daughter in Dallas who is getting married in May 2010.
She will be retiring from firm ownership late this year and will be proofreading for reporters full time.
Contact: (214) 707-3801 | mseeley@collinsrealtime.net
Immediate Past President
Jamie K. Israelow, CSR, RPR, CRR, CLR, has been reporting since April 1990. She graduated from the Arlington Court Reporting College and began her career in court reporting. Most of her work is comprised of depositions, arbitrations, and meetings. For one year, she provided CART for a hearing-impaired student at the University of Dallas in Richardson. Jamie served as DCRA Treasurer in 1999 and 2000, President-Elect in 2008, and President in 2009.
Jamie has worked for various court reporting companies until she went independent at the end of July 2007. In August 2007, she formed JKI Reporting and is now an independent reporter providing realtime reporting services and overflow work for various clients, individuals, and reporting firms. The main focus of her work is realtime reporting. Jamie has been proctoring the NCRA Certified Realtime Reporter exam in Dallas since 2005.
Jamie has been married for 22 years and has a seven-year-old son. She tries to spend as much time with her family as she can. When time permits, her hobbies are reading books and watching movies. Jamie and her family also enjoy traveling.
Contact: (817) 999-9956 | israelow.jamie@sbcglobal.net
|
