Annise Parker

The Honorable Annise Parker served Houston for three terms as City Council member, three terms as City Controller, and three terms as Mayor. She is one of only two women to elected mayor, and the only person in Houston history to have held all three offices. She was the first openly LGBTQ mayor of a top 10 American city.

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.

Mayor Parker is currently President/CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund and Victory Institute. She was formerly Senior Vice-President and Chief Strategy Officer of BakerRipley. She is a past Fellow at the Doerr Institute for New Leaders and Professor in the Practice at Rice University and a past Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

In the private sector, 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 more than 30 years and are advocates for adoption, with three daughters and a son.