Andrew Huff is the Senior Legal and Policy Advisor to the Center for Indian Country Development. Mr. Huff is Cree and is an enrolled member of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation of north-central Montana. He graduated from Harvard in 1991 and the University of Colorado School of Law in 1999. Over the course of his legal career, Mr. Huff has served in a variety of positions, including as a tribal judge for the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation; as Chief Legal Counsel to Governor Steve Bullock of Montana (2013-2017); and as an Assistant Attorney General for the Montana Department of Justice (2010-2012). Mr. Huff has also represented tribal governments in legal and policy matters. Mr. Huff lives in Helena, Montana with his family.

Law Offices of Bruce M. Spencer, PLLC provides comprehensive governmental relations services for Montana, including bill drafting, issue advocacy, bill monitoring, interim services, and agency relations. The Firm provides comprehensive representation regarding insurance regulation. The firm also has experience defending FDCPA, consumer protection and class actions in Montana. The practice additionally includes business formation and advice.

Mr. Spencer is a native of Montana. He attended the University of Montana for his undergraduate degree and obtained his JD from the University of Oregon. He lives just south of Helena with his wife and two sons.

Mr. Spencer has practiced in law Montana since 1992. His practice areas emphasize, governmental relations, creditor’s rights, commercial law, consumer protection defense, insurance law, and health care law.

Justice McKinnon is a graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law and began practicing in 1987 as a prosecutor in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office. She prosecuted felony offenses and was also a prosecutor in the Felony Sexual Assault Unit. After several years as a prosecutor, she started her own practice and focused on criminal litigation (including death penalty cases), family law, landlord tenant issues, domestic violence, and general civil litigation. In 1995, Justice McKinnon moved to Montana with her husband, CAPT (ret) Gary L. Pannabecker, D.D.S., after he accepted employment as a dentist with the Indian Health Service in Browning, Montana. Justice McKinnon continued her career in Montana as a Deputy Glacier and Teton County Attorney.

In 2006, Justice McKinnon was elected to Montana’s Ninth Judicial District Court, serving Teton, Pondera, Toole and Glacier counties for a six-year term. While a trial judge, she oversaw water distribution of the Teton River and other tributaries within her district; wrote and obtained a federal grant of $350,000 from the Department of Justice to implement a drug treatment court; and developed the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program to provide a voice for children in dependency and neglect proceedings. In 2010, she was awarded Judge of the Year by Montana CASA.

Justice McKinnon was elected to the Montana Supreme Court in 2012. To promote equal justice, she worked to develop the Early Resolution And Mediation Program (ERAMP) for Montana’s trial courts. ERAMP, a court-connected program, combines the skills of volunteer attorneys, who have received mediation training, with the needs of low-income parents wanting assistance in mediating their parenting disputes. Justice McKinnon received the Montana State Bar’s Karla M. Gray Equal Justice Award. The award is presented to a Montana judge who demonstrates dedication to improving access to Montana courts.

Justice McKinnon serves on the Executive Committee of the Appellate Judges Conference of the American Bar Association. She serves on the Appellate Judges Education Institute (AJEI) and, in 2019, assembled and narrated a panel of judges from across the nation to discuss the important topic: “Independence of the Judiciary: The Shield of a Free Society.” She presented at the AJEI’s national symposium on the topic of a court’s jurisdiction. Justice McKinnon serves as an ABA Advisor to the Uniform Law Commission’s Fine and Fees Committee, which is examining the impact and legalities of fines and fees on indigent criminal defendants. In 2016, Justice McKinnon received her Master’s Degree in Judicial Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate degree in the Judicial Studies Program.

Justice McKinnon and her husband, Gary, reside in Helena. They have four children: Rachel is an attorney in Missoula and a graduate of the University of Montana School of Law; Chet is a graduate of Montana State University and works in heating and air conditioning in Bozeman; Wyatt will be attending the University of Montana School of Law; and Dylan is an engineer in Helena and graduate of Montana Tech. Justice McKinnon enjoys her family, piano, her horses and dogs, and cherishes Montana’s great outdoors and the opportunity to serve its citizens.

Lisa Migliore Black is the owner of Migliore & Associates®, a freelance court reporting and videography firm located in Louisville, Kentucky. Lisa is a past president for the Kentucky Court Reporters Association, serves as the co-chair of the NCRA Strong Committee, serves as a member of NCRA’s Education Content and Brand Ambassadors Committees, and is co-founder of Court Reporting Reliance. In the past, she has served on the National Congress of State Associations Governing Committee, Task Force on Contracting, Ethics First, Freelance Community of Interest, and Election Committee for NCRA; the Ethics Committee, Legislative Committee, and Anti-Contracting Committee for KYCRA; and the Public Relations Committee for OCRA. Additional volunteer projects include the A to Z program, TRAIN, Veterans History Project, and pro bono service for the Innocence Project. Lisa has delivered presentations and authored articles on topics ranging from ethics, contracting, digital reporting, automated speech recognition, and cybersquatting for NCRA and many state associations.

Stacey E. Raikes, RMR, CRR is a stenographic machine court reporter with over a quarter century of experience spanning across the global freelance market as well as state and federal officialships. Stacey has served on the NCRA STRONG Committee for three years and chaired the Committee from 2022-2023. She also currently serves on NCRA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. She has given presentations for the last three years to NCRA audiences as well as outside agencies. Stacey attended the Court Technology Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, in August of 2023 where she educated its attendees on the pitfalls of AI in the legal setting. Court reporting is her passion, and she delights in sharing the valuable insights she has gained with the world. No gatekeeping allowed!

Sue Terry, FAPR/RPR/CRR/CRC

Sue currently serves as the official court reporter for the Greene County Common Pleas Court in Xenia, Ohio. She is a Past President of the National Court Reporters Association, the Ohio Court Reporters Association, and the StenoCat Users Network. She has served and chaired numerous NCRA committees and task forces. Sue is a Registered Professional Reporter, Certified Realtime Reporter and Certified Realtime Captioner. She has been awarded the distinction of being a Fellow of the Academy of Professional Reporters by the National Court Reporters Association and is the only person in NCRA’s long history to receive both the NCRA Distinguished Service Award and the Jim Bouley Family Altruism Award in the same year.

Tavis Morello is vice president and deputy general counsel in the Legal Division at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. He joined the Bank in 2020 and began serving in his current role in July 2023. During his time at the Bank, Tavis has contributed to a number of key initiatives, including substantial procurement efforts, supporting the Paycheck Protection Program Liquidity Facility, and providing advice and counsel to the Bank’s many business functions, including Supervision, Regulation and Credit.

Prior to joining the Bank, Tavis held in-house leadership positions in the legal departments of two publicly-traded companies headquartered in the Twin Cities area. Tavis led the business law division of the legal department at Supervalu, Inc.—a grocery company supplying and servicing over 3,400 owned licensed, franchised and independently owned grocery stores across the United States—through the acquisition of Supervalu by UNFI in 2019. Tavis served previously served as general counsel and corporate secretary of Imation Corp., while it was a holding company involved in the businesses of asset management and data storage.

Prior to serving as in-house counsel, Tavis was in private practice in the corporate and securities group in the Boston office of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. Tavis holds a JD from Boston College Law School, a BA in political science from College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS in economics from the Wharton School of Business.

Yvette Heinze is a Certified Shorthand Reporter and Registered Professional Reporter. Yvette currently works as a federal official stenographer in Montana, and she has previously worked in state court as well as provided deposition and CART services. Yvette is a past president of the Montana Court Reporters Association (MTCRA), and she currently serves as vice-chair on the National Congress of State Associations (NCSA) and National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) Bylaws Committee. In the past, she has served on multiple committees with the NCRA, including DE&I Task Force, Committee on Professional Ethics, Education Content Committee, NCSA state delegate and regional representative. With MTCRA, Yvette has chaired multiple convention committees, and serves as the Student Outreach Chair. In addition to obtaining NCRA training in Leadership, Legislative Boot Camp, and Realtime, Yvette has delivered presentations at NCRA and MTCRA events.