Jennifer Peirson

Jennifer Peirson, Chair-Elect (2024-2025)

My lifelong love of music propelled me to attain a Bachelor of Music degree, along with a Business Minor, from James Madison University (Harrisonburg, Virginia, US) in 1996. While the music industry was not ultimately my career, my time in music school well prepared me for the diligence required to take a second stab at a career as a stenographic court reporter. In 2000, I began this journey at the (now-defunct) Virginia School of Technology, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and graduated with my Court Reporting Certificate in October of 2003.

I worked as a freelance court reporter for 18 years, in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, then Southern California, then back to Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. In late 2017, I received additional training via Anissa Nierenberger’s four-month broadcast captioning program, immediately followed by her one-month CART program. In January 2018, I started the next chapter of my professional life as a CART captioner. I can honestly say I start every day excited to go to work.

As a former Registered Professional Reporter and California Certified Shorthand Reporter, I recognize the value of certification. I am so excited to see so many new NCSPs! It is also very exciting to see the Global Alliance becoming the go-to organization for evaluating quality captions. I think educating the public about all things captioning is how the Global Alliance will continue to grow its membership. By hosting educational events, speaking at schools, and by attending as many industry-related conferences as possible, we can make the Global Alliance of Speech-to-Text Captioning a household name. My work with the Education Committee, the Caption Quality Task Force, and as the Social Media Manager has me well-placed to further this goal.