DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD PRESENTATION

PAM GRIFFIN: Thank you. Can you all hear me? The Distinguished Service Award winner this year truly lives and models ethical principles, consistently leading with integrity and willing at any moment to share their time and talent.

What is the Distinguished Service Award? For me, it stands for an individual who always represents our profession to the fullest, an individual who is professional, businesslike, and who represents the Arizona court reporting world in every way possible, someone who has the ability to inspire others, possesses competent leadership, the desire to serve, and, above all, loyalty to our profession.

This individual is an Arizona native and has been a reporter in Arizona for more than 20 years, achieving the Registered Professional Reporter, Certificate of Merit, as well as the Certified Realtime Reporter certifications. This is a person who is well respected in the community by both fellow reporters and attorneys. As one attorney stated in a letter to me, "I want to express to you and all associated with the reporting and videography in the matter our appreciation for the outstanding work you and, in particular, our award winner, have done, often under extremely difficult circumstances. In 30 years of litigation practice coast to coast, I have never seen a more impressive job. Mr. Alan B. Hoffman."

As a firm owner, I not only appreciate the skill of this reporter but the approach to maintaining excellence and willingness to do whatever it takes to get any job done. Always a team player, whether it's an emergency call-in job, a no-show or a highly technical job, this individual can always be counted on. Dependability and resourcefulness are qualities that make up this reporter's character, although they aren't the only quality.

A love of life and passion for travel comes to mind when I think of this individual, including things like spa days, bungee-jumping, skydiving, paragliding, parasailing, as well as live performances on the trapeze at Club Med. Hiking, biking, yoga, scuba-diving, and white-water rafting are just a few more of this court reporter's personal hobbies.

Do you know who this is yet?

(Chorus of yeses.)

For years, this person has volunteered to oversee the National Court Reporters Association certification tests for reporters. Thinking this would be a way of giving back to our association, our winner has kept this extremely challenging position for many years, flawlessly polishing and refining everything that is entailed in the testing day process, all with style and grace. Believe me, your efforts have not gone unnoticed. Always wanting to progress as court reporters and wanting to improve on our writing ability, a sharing of briefs amongst ourselves in the office has now exploded into something that we have come to know as Brief Buddies, headed up unofficially by our award winner. For anyone who doesn't know, Brief Buddies is an e-mailing group established for reporters as a resource to share briefs. This court reporter all on their own decided to take this task on, creating awareness for all, sharing not just within our firm but also with our entire industry.

Like the Energizer Bunny, this is the reporter that keeps on going. Through this person's dedication to our field and to ACRA, our award winner has been a mentor to many court reporters through the 25 years. She encourages others to think critically and to be true to themselves. Her many talents and abilities to connect with anyone she meets are enhanced by the person that lives within her heart and soul. It is my honor and pleasure on behalf of the Arizona Court Reporters Association to award the highest tribute of our Association to one who deserves the acknowledgement and thanks for all that has been done with class and humility.

Please join me in welcoming her longtime significant other, John Nadeau, as we honor this year's Distinguished Service Award winner, my sister reporter and true friend, Pamela J. Mayer.

(Applause.)

PAM MAYER: Oh, my gosh. Thanks for making me cry. I'm a crier. I always cry. I don't know what to say. Thank you, Pam, for being such a great friend and wonderful person to work for. I wouldn't have kept up the RPR testing duties for so long if it wasn't for all my awesome volunteers, especially Leslie Foldy, who helps just about every time I ask her, and Michele Balmer, you are always there, too. Thank you. And also Rabin. And Jan Fuller. Jan, are you here? Jan, you are so great. She is always there to help with registration and Georgy, too. And Wilma and Cindy and Doreen. And I know I'm forgetting people. I'm sorry if I'm forgetting anybody, but you guys are all great, and you make the day so much easier. Oh, Mary, Mary Davis has helped me so many times too. I took the duties over from her many years ago, and she was great at showing me the ropes and sticking with me for a couple years until I got comfortable with the job. I don't know what else to say, but thank you, everybody. This is a real honor.

(Additional note from Pam: If anyone would like to help me with future RPR/RMR testing, please contact me at pjmayer@cox.net.  It requires about five hours of your time on the first Saturday in May or November. I'm sure my loyal volunteers would like me to get some new blood in there and let them have a break!)