When a State Association Leaves the State – Why ILCRA’s Move to Florida Is a Red Flag for Court Reporters Everywhere

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In a surprising development that has left many court reporters scratching their heads, the Illinois Court Reporters Association (ILCRA) recently announced that its headquarters has officially moved—not to another city in Illinois, but to Altamonte Springs, Florida. According to the notice, all future correspondence should now be sent to:

Illinois Court Reporters Association
222 S. Westmonte Dr., Ste. 111
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714

This is the second time in recent years that ILCRA has changed its headquarters address, previously moving from Illinois to Broadlands, Virginia. The pattern of shifting operations out of Illinois raises serious concerns about transparency, governance, and control of one of the state’s most important professional associations for stenographic court reporters.

What’s Going On?

At first glance, this might appear to be an administrative change—simply a new mailing address. But seasoned observers of the court reporting profession recognize the bigger picture. When a state association outsources its core functions—membership management, finances, event planning—to a third-party association management company (AMC), it can result in a fundamental shift in control. The address change to Florida strongly suggests that ILCRA is now being run, at least administratively and possibly financially, by an out-of-state management company based there.

Why Florida? Why Not Illinois?

This move is especially concerning because of the stark contrast between the two states. Illinois is one of the top four states in the country in terms of court reporter population and certified professionals. It has strong certification requirements, an active court reporting community, and historically has been a leader in the steno profession.

Florida, on the other hand, is an unregulated state. It has never required licensing for court reporters. There are no certification or registration requirements, and much of Florida’s judicial system has already transitioned to digital audio recording and outsourced transcription services. In many courts across Florida, live stenographic reporters are no longer used.

The decision to move the headquarters of a premier Illinois professional association to a state that has not only failed to protect the profession—but has functionally moved away from it altogether—is baffling and dangerous.

Enter Dave Wenhold

This is where the name Dave Wenhold comes in. Wenhold, the current Executive Director of the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA), has long been involved in the business of managing associations—especially within the court reporting field—through entities like the Miller/Wenhold Association Management firm and its various iterations.

His name is familiar to those in the profession because of past controversies. Wenhold’s firms have been linked to multiple state associations, and not always with positive outcomes. Most notably, the New York State Court Reporters Association (NYSCRA) experienced what some members called an “erasure of records” and a loss of financial oversight during Wenhold’s tenure. According to whistleblower accounts, records were lost, bank accounts were drained, and the board was left in disarray. One former leader stated, “We had no records from the time of Dave’s management.”

ILCRA appears to be following a similar trajectory, with the heart of the association now relocated hundreds of miles away to a state that has nothing to do with Illinois court reporting. While ILCRA’s board of directors may remain local in name, the operational control may no longer be in their hands.

The Dangers of Out-of-State Management

When an association outsources operations to an AMC located out-of-state, it introduces serious concerns:

  1. Loss of Local Accountability: Members lose the ability to walk into an office, call a local administrator, or meet with staff in person.
  2. Financial Transparency Issues: Who has access to ILCRA’s bank accounts? Who signs the checks? Are financial statements independently audited?
  3. Legal Liability: Is ILCRA still legally registered as a nonprofit corporation in Illinois? Or is it now administratively operating under the umbrella of a Florida or Virginia entity?
  4. Mission Drift: The further operations move from Illinois, the easier it becomes to drift from the core mission of serving Illinois reporters specifically.

This Isn’t Just About Mail

Many professional associations do hire outside firms to handle tasks like conference planning, website maintenance, or dues processing. But the mailing address is a symbolic and practical cornerstone. It reflects where records are kept, where correspondence is received, and often where the corporation is administratively controlled.

ILCRA’s decision to move its headquarters to Florida, of all places, is a symbolic detachment from its Illinois roots. This is not about a P.O. box; it’s about centralizing control in the hands of a third-party company—likely the same management group that has faced scrutiny in other jurisdictions.

The Role of the Board: Are They in Control?

In a properly functioning nonprofit, the board of directors is responsible for overseeing operations, approving budgets, and ensuring that the organization stays true to its mission. But when day-to-day operations are handed over to an AMC, boards often become rubber stamps rather than watchdogs.

If ILCRA’s board is now relying entirely on out-of-state administrators for membership communications, financial transactions, and records management, then they must be held accountable. Members should demand clarity on these critical questions:

  • Who is the Executive Director of ILCRA?
  • Is ILCRA still registered as an Illinois nonprofit?
  • Are any Illinois-based staff employed?
  • What are the terms of the contract with the AMC?

How This Affects You

If you’re an Illinois court reporter, this move directly affects your professional home. ILCRA is your voice at the state level. It advocates for legislation, supports education and certification, and provides critical networking and continuing education opportunities. If those functions are being steered by non-reporters in another state, how confident can you be that your interests are being prioritized?

Even if you’re not based in Illinois, this trend should concern you. What happens to one state association can easily spread. If AMC management can shift the mailing address, financial control, and records of an association without full transparency, then other associations could be next.

What You Can Do

  1. Ask Questions: Reach out to the ILCRA board and request a copy of their current AMC contract.
  2. Check Records: Look up ILCRA’s nonprofit status and tax filings via the Illinois Secretary of State and IRS 990 databases.
  3. Get Involved: Attend the annual convention this September and ask these questions publicly.
  4. Elect Accountable Leaders: Support board candidates who demand transparency and oppose outsourcing core functions out-of-state.

Conclusion: This Is a Warning Sign

The relocation of ILCRA’s headquarters to Florida is more than a logistical update. It signals a potential hollowing out of member-led control and a dangerous overreliance on third-party management. The same patterns that caused chaos in other state associations are now quietly repeating in Illinois. It’s up to court reporters—members, students, and advocates alike—to sound the alarm before it’s too late.

ILCRA belongs in Illinois. Period. Any move away from that mission should be met with scrutiny, transparency, and swift corrective action. Especially when it’s moving to a state that has never protected the profession, never licensed reporters, and has already let digital recording take over the courtroom.

Disclaimer

The content of this post is intended for informational and discussion purposes only. All opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are based on publicly available information, industry standards, and good-faith concerns about nonprofit governance and professional ethics. No part of this article is intended to defame, accuse, or misrepresent any individual or organization. Readers are encouraged to verify facts independently and to engage constructively in dialogue about leadership, transparency, and accountability in the court reporting profession.

  • The content on this blog represents the personal opinions, observations, and commentary of the author. It is intended for editorial and journalistic purposes and is protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
  • Nothing here constitutes legal advice. Readers are encouraged to review the facts and form independent conclusions.

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Published by stenoimperium

We exist to facilitate the fortifying of the Stenography profession and ensure its survival for the next hundred years! As court reporters, we've handed the relationship role with our customers, or attorneys, over to the agencies and their sales reps.  This has done a lot of damage to our industry.  It has taken away our ability to have those relationships, the ability to be humanized and valued.  We've become a replaceable commodity. Merely saying we are the “Gold Standard” tells them that we’re the best, but there are alternatives.  Who we are though, is much, much more powerful than that!  We are the Responsible Charge.  “Responsible Charge” means responsibility for the direction, control, supervision, and possession of stenographic & transcription work, as the case may be, to assure that the work product has been critically examined and evaluated for compliance with appropriate professional standards by a licensee in the profession, and by sealing and signing the documents, the professional stenographer accepts responsibility for the stenographic or transcription work, respectively, represented by the documents and that applicable stenographic and professional standards have been met.  This designation exists in other professions, such as engineering, land surveying, public water works, landscape architects, land surveyors, fire preventionists, geologists, architects, and more.  In the case of professional engineers, the engineering association adopted a Responsible Charge position statement that says, “A professional engineer is only considered to be in responsible charge of an engineering work if the professional engineer makes independent professional decisions regarding the engineering work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional engineer’s physical presence at the location where the engineering work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the engineering work.” If we were to adopt a Responsible Charge position statement for our industry, we could start with a draft that looks something like this: "A professional court reporter, or stenographer, is only considered to be in responsible charge of court reporting work if the professional court reporter makes independent professional decisions regarding the court reporting work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional court reporter’s physical presence at the location where the court reporting work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the court reporting work.” Shared purpose The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working toward together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from consumer to co-creator. In court reporting, our mission is “to bring justice to every litigant in the U.S.”  That purpose is shared by all involved in the litigation process – judges, attorneys, everyone.  Who we are is the Responsible Charge.  How we do that is by Protecting the Record.

3 thoughts on “When a State Association Leaves the State – Why ILCRA’s Move to Florida Is a Red Flag for Court Reporters Everywhere”

    1. Hi Jana,
      You’re receiving these emails because, at some point in the past, you connected with me through a professional effort or industry-related outreach where you opted in to receive updates. I’ve continued that mission through StenoImperium—a movement focused on strengthening and protecting our profession for the long haul.

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  2. Good message. Thank you.

    I’ve always believed the degradation of our profession is due to this person. Schools have dropped substantially under this person’s watch. And does this person’s staff, the Education Department, do anything about getting new schools implemented?

    We need more schools and we have to find new ways to market our profession. Locally, before our local school closed – they said “due to finances” – we had a commercial on television in the 1990s enticing students to the paralegal and court reporting departments. It worked. But once the commercial dropped, so did students.

    Anyway, that’s my two cents.

    Also, if you have a tab that states “Read More”, I won’t be hitting that tab.

    Once again, thanks for the emails.

    Warm regards,

    Linda Wolfe, RPR, RMR, FCRR, FPR-C

    Certified Stenographic Realtime Court Reporter

    REALTIME COURT REPORTERS, INC.

    P.O. Box 1776

    Sarasota, FL 34230-1776

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