Cathy Penniston holds the nationally recognized professional certifications of Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) and Certified Reporting Instructor (CRI). She spent 30 years working as an official court reporter for the state of Iowa before transitioning into a broadcast captioning career. She has also worked as a freelancer and a CART (Communications Access Realtime Translation) provider. Penniston currently teaches stenographic reporting at the Des Moines Area Community College in Newton, Iowa.
Penniston holds a Master of Arts Degree in Education and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration. She obtained her associate degree in Court Reporting from the American Institute of Business.
At the national level, Penniston has served on numerous NCRA committees and enjoys leading NCRA A to Z® Intro to Steno Machine Shorthand programs. She has served as a member of the NCRA Board of Directors since 2018 and has also been a volunteer for phone-a-thon fundraising campaigns to support the National Court Reporters Foundation (NCRF).
At the state level, Penniston served as president, vice president, and secretary of the Iowa Court Reporters Association, and is the recipient of the Roy Voelker Memorial Award for Distinguished Service for the court reporting profession of the state of Iowa. She also received the Indian Hills Community College Vision Award Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014.