2020 CATI Conference Speaker Bios
About the Speakers :
(in alaphabetical order by first name)
David Stephenson
David Stephenson, CT, an ATA-certified German>English, Dutch>English, and Croatian>English translator, is the chair of ATA’s Certification Committee. He is a freelance translator of German, Dutch, Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian into English, specializing in civil litigation and creative nonfiction, and he is a past president of CATI (1993-1995).
Hernán A. Silva-Zetina
Hernán A. Silva-Zetina has been a freelance English-Spanish interpreter and translator for more than 17 years. Raised in the southeastern state of Campeche, Mexico and educated internationally within the Mexican, British and American educational systems, Hernán Silva-Zetina is a Certified Spanish Court Interpreter in the States of Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. Hernán is also an Ad Hoc interpreter at Federal Court, has completed the CCHCP Bridging the Gap Medical Interpreter Training Program for Medical Interpreters and is also a Notary Public in the State of Tennessee. Hernán has interpreted hundreds of asylum and immigration hearings for USCIS and EOIR (immigration court). Hernán is an active member of NAJIT, ATA, EULITA, TAPIT and TAMIT professional organizations.. Hernán is a renaissance man, an ethical, hardworking and dedicated professional interpreter, and a true altruist.Hernán A. Silva-Zetina may be reached at: hernan@odinsmemphis.com .
Indira Sultanić
Indira Sultanić, PhD, CHI™ is an Assistant Professor of Spanish Translation and Interpreting Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. She received her Ph.D. in Translation Studies from Kent State University. Her teaching expertise include medical, legal, and community interpreting, and Spanish <> English translation. Dr. Sultanić is a CERTIFIED HEALTHCARE INTERPRETER™, and has worked in the language industry as a Project Manager, translator, as well as a medical and community interpreter for the past 11 years. She is a Member of the California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA) Board of Directors.
Irene Bruno
Irene Bruno, Senior Diplomatic Spanish Interpreter at the U.S. Department of State, is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. After finishing high school there, she traveled as a foreign exchange student to Kansas City, MO where she attended Park Hill High School. During that experience, she decided to become a translator and interpreter. Upon receiving her B.A. in Translation from the University of Buenos Aires and her interpreting degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. she began a +35-year career as a free-lance interpreter for the U.S. Government, international organizations such as the Organization of American States, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as clients from the private sector.
In 2014 she joined the Office of Language Services at the U.S. Department of States, as Spanish Diplomatic Interpreter where she interprets for the White House, the Department of State and other Departments of the U.S. Government.
Janis Palma
Janis Palma is a NAJIT-certified English-Spanish interpreter and translator, originally from Puerto Rico and currently living in San Antonio, Texas. She is also certified by the U.S. Courts and has a Master Court Interpreter license from the State of Texas. Her studies in literature and literary criticism were the basis for her initial incursions in judiciary interpreting, later complemented by graduate-level and self-directed studies in applied linguistics. She has worked for the past 36 years as a judiciary interpreter and translator in both state and federal courts, as well as other government agencies throughout the U.S. She has also been very active through NAJIT and other organizations since 1986 in continuing education initiatives for judiciary interpreters at all levels of experience. Ms. Palma is a past NAJIT President and past Chair of the SSTI Board
Jeannette Houchens
Jeannette Houchens: originally from Colombia, South America, is a Certified Medical Interpreter (CMI-Spanish), and a Certified Court Interpreter for South Carolina. She started her career back in her country, where she worked in the translations industry. After moving to the US, she continued advancing on her career by taking local trainings in Legal, Health and Human Services interpretation. She obtained accreditation as a qualified Spanish Interpreter by the Department of Social Services of South Carolina and later obtained her Certification as Medical Interpreter and Court Interpreter. Jeannette has become an active part in the interpreting profession in her area.
John Milan
John Milan, M.Sc., CT, is an ATA-certified translator, economist, consultant, and lecturer on the business and economics of language services. He holds degrees in Spanish and International Political Economy, in addition to a Master’s in Applied Microeconomics, earned at The Ohio State University, where he specialized in Portuguese translation as a Foreign Language Fellow. For 10 years, he lectured as an adjunct professor of economics at a university in São Paulo, Brazil, while freelancing as a translator and consultant. Since 2005, he has been involved in both ATA and CATI, currently serving on the ATA Board of Directors as its Treasurer and chair of the Finance and Audit Committee. Before that, he was a board member and past president of CATI (2009-2016).
Lorena Devlyn
Lorena Devlyn is a state and federally certified court interpreter (English < >Spanish). She’s been a court interpreter since 2012. In 2017 she became the first full time staff interpreter for the Travis County Criminal Courts in Austin, Texas. Currently, she is a staff interpreter at the US District Courts District of New Mexico in Las Cruces, NM. Lorena serves on the Board of Directors of the Texas Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators and she a member of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators and the American Translators Association. Lorena earned a JD in Law from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and is working towards her Masters Degree in Interpreting and Translating at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Michaels Collins
Michael Collins has been active in technical translation and localization for over 30 years. Degrees include a B.A. from the University of Arizona with a double major in Russian and German, and a Master’s Degree in Slavic Linguistics from UNC Chapel Hill. He has also studied at the university level in Germany and Yugoslavia. He is ATA-certified German to English and Russian to English, is a former President of Global Translation Systems, Inc., and a former President of the Carolina Association of Translators and Interpreters. He is the author of numerous articles and presentations on translation and the translation industry and currently works as a freelance translator.
Matthew T. Benton
Matthew T. Benton has been a freelance English-Spanish interpreter and translator for the past 10 years and has been a Certified Spanish Court Interpreter in the states of Tennessee, Missouri, and Mississippi since 2018. Born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Matthew graduated from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in philosophy and Spanish before setting off to teach English in Chile. From 2010 to 2017, he worked in many of the country’s most prestigious academic institutions, teaching English language and literature in the International Baccalaureate system while immersing himself in Latin American language and culture. Upon returning to the United States in 2017, Matthew began volunteering and interpreting for the Hispanic community in his home state of Tennessee while training to become a certified interpreter. He is a member of several professional organizations, including NAJIT, ATA, EULITA, TAPIT, and TAMIT, and is an avid reader, runner, music lover, and travel enthusiast. He is also a notary public in the state of Tennessee. He can be reached at matthew@odinsmemphis.com
Dr. Santiago Garía-Castañón
Santiago García-Castañón holds the degree of Licenciado in English Philology from the Universidad de Oviedo (Spain) and a Master’s and PhD in Spanish Literature from the University of Illinois. He is Professor of Spanish at Western Carolina University, where he also served as department head for seven years. An accomplished public speaker, award-winning poet, novelist, legal interpreter and literary translator, he has given more than 120 presentations, talks and lectures in some twenty countries in four continents on various topics, ranging from language and literature to translation and contemporary politics. Santiago has twenty-one books to his credit, and has recently translated John Milton’s complete sonnets into Spanish verse.
Sarah Baker
As a second-generation ASL/English interpreter growing up within the Deaf community, Sarah Baker highly values providing equal access for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing individuals nationwide. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Bob Jones University in English Language & Linguistics with a double minor in Teaching English as a Second Language and Education. Since 2008, Sarah has interpreted in a wide variety of settings, specializing in Video Relay Service and medical interpreting. As a volunteer, she served on the South Carolina RID Board of Directors as the State Member-at-Large and Professional Development Chair. Sarah is nationally certified by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.
Susana Gee
Susana Gee is a federally certified English/Spanish interpreter. Her expertise is in the fields of law, medicine, education and insurance. Susana was born and raised in Mexico City. She has a B.S. from the Universidad Iberoamericana de México and a M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University. Susana’s true passion is etymology.
UNC Charlotte Panel
Dr. Mónica Rodríguez-Castro is an Associate Professor of Spanish and Translation Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Rodríguez-Castro teaches courses in project management, computer-assisted-translation tools, English<>Spanish specialized translation practice, and Spanish for Business. Her primary research interests include empirical studies in translator satisfaction, translation technologies, pedagogy and corpus linguistics.
Ms. Delfina Erochenko, Ms. Yennica Palmer and Ms. Laura Richiez Combas are currently pursuing their MA in Spanish with a concentration in Translation Studies (English-Spanish).
Cancellations and Refunds – If an individual cancels in writing by or on March 13, 2020, a $25 cancellation fee will be deducted from the registration amount paid. Allow up to 8 weeks for refunds to be processed. No refunds will be made if notified after March 13, 2020. Substitutions are encouraged.