2026–2027 Board of Directors

President

Michelle Montero

Michelle Montero has been an official court reporter with the Los Angeles Superior Court since 1998. She has worked primarily in family law and dependency and is currently assigned to a felony trial court. Michelle has served on the LACCRA Board of Directors for the past two years, including as Vice President, and is honored to serve as President for the 2026–2027 term. She has been actively involved in the Website & Technology, Bylaws, Newsletter, Mentorship, and Joint Labor Management committees. She helped create LACCRA’s mentorship program and has helped improve the Association’s website to make information and resources easier for members to access. She also serves as a union steward for SEIU Local 721, Court Reporters Unit 861. Michelle believes strongly in teamwork, transparency, and getting more members involved in the Association. As President, her priorities are simple: Protect our profession. Connect our members. Share the work.

Vice President

Alisia Lewis

Alisia Lewis has been a court reporter for 16 years and currently works as an Official Court Reporter for the Los Angeles Superior Court, where she will celebrate 10 years in 2027. She began her career in 2010 after graduating from Bryan College and spent her early years as a freelancer, reporting everything from personal injury and medical depositions to complex business litigation, arbitrations, and even a celebrity deposition. After joining LASC as a floater, Alisia gained experience in family law, dependency, juvenile, misdemeanors, and felonies. She now works in a busy felony preliminary hearing courtroom in Pasadena with a judge she has worked alongside for the past eight years. Alisia served on the LACCRA Board of Directors in 2024–2025, then again in 2025-2026 as Secretary, and she is excited to serve as Vice President for the 2026–2027 term. Outside of the courtroom, she loves spending time with her six children and eight grandchildren and enjoys reading, journaling, and all things stationery—especially fountain pens!

Secretary

Jaclyn Verkler

Jaclyn K. Verkler has been a court reporter for over 24 years and currently works as an Official Court Reporter for the Los Angeles Superior Court. After attending South Coast College, she began her career in 2002 as a freelance court reporter before joining the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2018. She has worked in both criminal and family law and currently serves as a RAF at the Pomona Courthouse.

Jaclyn has been actively involved with LACCRA, serving as Treasurer, participating on the Finance Committee, and supporting the mentorship program. She previously taught at South Coast College and recently returned to teaching, where she enjoys encouraging future court reporters. She is excited to serve as Secretary for the 2026–2027 term and is passionate about advocating for the court reporting profession.

Outside of the courtroom, Jaclyn enjoys spending time with her family, especially her new grandson, Zander, and keeping up with her teenage son's busy schedule.

Treasurer

Keenya Williams

Keenya Williams began her career with Los Angeles Superior Court in 2024. After working in juvenile justice in Inglewood, she recently transitioned to a restraining order courtroom in Long Beach. She serves as LACCRA’s Treasurer for the 2026–2027 term and as the Association’s newsletter editor.

Keenya has enthusiastically embraced opportunities to support her profession. She previously served on the Public Outreach Committee and especially enjoys her work with the Legislative Committee. Attending NCRA’s Legislative Boot Camp strengthened her passion for advocacy, and she has officially caught the legislative bug!

Supporting fellow reporters is just as important to Keenya. She enjoys training new reporters, helping them feel welcome, and finding practical ways to make their work easier. As newsletter editor, she helps celebrate members’ accomplishments and keep the LACCRA community connected. Known for her warmth, willingness to help, and ability to bring people together, Keenya is often described as “the glue” by those around her.

Outside of work and LACCRA, Keenya loves horror movie marathons and all things spooky, and she never misses a chance to go all out for Halloween.

Immediate Past President

Shanna Gray

Shanna Gray has been a court reporter since 2011. Before becoming an official with the Los Angeles Superior Court, Shanna worked as a freelance reporter in the greater LA area. She joined the court in March of 2019. Shanna spent some time floating in criminal courtrooms before finding a home in a long-cause family law courtroom for a few years at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. She is currently a floater assigned to the Stanley Mosk Courthouse. Shanna lives near downtown Los Angeles. She loves ramen and having lunch with colleagues when her busy schedule permits it. She also loves mentoring court-reporting students.

Director-at-Large

Renee Garcia

Director-at-Large

Lisa Hernandez

With 37 years of experience as a California Certified Shorthand Reporter, Lisa brings extensive litigation and courtroom expertise to her work. She spent 27 years reporting depositions throughout Southern California before joining the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2016—fulfilling a longtime goal of working in the courtroom.

She has spent the majority of her court career in dependency court and continues working in dependency court as a remote court reporter for LASC's remote reporter pilot project, combining decades of experience with the future of court reporting.

Director-at-Large

Lyrra Lamar

Lyrra Lamar has been an official court reporter with Los Angeles Superior Court since 1999. She worked in Compton Court for 12 years with a majority of those years assigned to a Drug Court/Prop 36 Court. She transferred to Pomona Court in 2011 and has worked in most areas of litigation but has a special love for Juvenile Justice where she is currently assigned.

Supporting students is especially close to Lyrra's heart. She has volunteered extensively as a mentor, welcomed students to sit in with her in court, and participated in the Court's internship program. Last year, she served as LACCRA'S Branch Representative Chair and participated in student fairs, sharing her experience and enthusiasm for court reporting with future reporters.

Lyrra has also helped organize LACCRA's National Court Reporting and Captioning Week
celebrations over the past few years. This year, she is chairing that committee and looks forward to learning more about the Student Outreach Committee and helping with its work.

PHOTO COMING SOON

Director-at-Large

LeNay Maull

PHOTO COMING SOON

Director-at-Large

Cassie Medina

Cassie Medina has been a court reporter for over 25 years. She spent the first 7 years working as a freelance reporter before LASC hired her in 2008 as an official reporter. Cassie floated, took a dependency assignment, and then a criminal assignment until 2012, when LASC privatized unlimited civil courtrooms and laid off court reporters. From 2012-2015, Cassie worked as a freelance official pro tempore reporting unlimited civil trials and motions until being rehired in 2015. Upon rehiring, Cassie decided that she wanted to be a part of maintaining and promoting the profession. Since 2015, she has been a part of the LACCRA Board, Joint Labor Management Committee, Recruitment and Retention Committee, Bargaining Committee, Remote Court Reporting Committee, Mentorship Committee, and Student Outreach Committee. Cassie is currently in a dependency assignment at Edelman Children’s Court.

PHOTO COMING SOON

Director-at-Large

Angelia Parrish

Director-at-Large

Diana Van Dyke

Diana Van Dyke has been a court reporter since 1995. She began her career as an independent contractor reporting depositions for over five years before fulfilling one of her professional goals of becoming a Los Angeles Superior Court Official Court Reporter in 2001. After more than ten years of serving the public as an official in almost all of the various case types for which Los Angeles provides a court reporter, she enjoys serving the public in a regular assignment in a long-cause felony trial court. This will be Diana’s 14th year of proudly serving the membership as a LACCRA Board member, which has included service on various LACCRA committees, including our E-filing Committee that helped usher into the court system the newest tool in our court reporters' array of useful assets to our justice system.

Executive Director/Administrator

Michele Hyson

Michele Hyson, IOM, is a nonprofit executive with more than 30 years of experience leading nonprofit organizations. Michele began her career with the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, where she spent more than 21 years in progressively responsible leadership roles. She later served as an Executive Director/Account Executive for an association management company before founding her own association management company in 2019, where she provides executive and association management services to nonprofit organizations. Michele has been providing executive management services to the Los Angeles Court Reporters Association (LACCRA) since approximately 2013, bringing more than a decade of experience working with the organization.

Michele has held leadership positions with the American Society of Association Executives and the California Society of Association Executives. Her contributions to the organizations she has served have been recognized with a President’s Award, as well as a Chairman’s Award. Michele holds the Institute for Organization Management (IOM) designation (then a six-year program for association management and chamber of commerce professionals) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management.