The Honorable Annise Parker served the people of Houston with three terms as City Council member, three terms as City Controller, and three terms as Mayor. She is the only person in Houston history to have held all three offices. She was the first openly LGBTQ mayor of a major American city.
Parker’s focus as Mayor was on strong fiscal management, improved flooding and drainage infrastructure, an overhaul of signature parks, and creation of a bayou trail system. She is still recognized nationally for her work reducing homelessness during her time as mayor.
In 2010, Time magazine named Mayor Parker one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She has received numerous awards during her career, including Scenic Houston’s Scenic Visionary Award, Guardian of the Human Spirit Award from Holocaust Museum Houston, Guardian of the Bay Award from Galveston Bay Foundation, Rice University Distinguished Alumna, and Local Arts Leadership honoree by Americans for the Arts.
She served on President Barack Obama’s State, Local and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, as well as the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, chaired by President Felipe Calderon of Mexico. She was a steering committee member of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and on the board of the Texas Environmental Research Consortium. She helped launch the Mayor’s National Climate Action Agenda.
While serving as mayor, Parker was chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Criminal and Social Justice Committee, president of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors, and on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary’s Advisory Council. She was appointed to the board of FirstNet–created by Congress to implement a nationwide broadband network for first responders. In the Biden Administration, she served on the Advisory Council for Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Mayor Parker has just completed seven years as President and CEO of The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and Institute. Before joining Victory, she served as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of BakerRipley, a community development nonprofit. She was a Fellow at the Doerr Institute for New Leaders and Professor in the Practice at Rice University, and also a past Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Current volunteer commitments include the boards of the Houston Botanic Garden, Houston BARC Foundation, and Patient Care Intervention Center.
Mayor Parker is a second-generation native Houstonian. She graduated from Rice University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Parker spent 20 years working in the oil and gas industry, including 18 years with Mosbacher Energy Company. Parker co-owned Inklings, a lesbian-feminist bookstore, for 10 years. Parker and her wife, Kathy Hubbard, have been together for over 30 years and are advocates for adoption, with three daughters and a son, as well as multiple grandchildren.
