The Honorable Annise Parker spent many years in service to the people of Houston, America's 4th largest city, with six years as a City Council member, six years as City Controller, and six years as Mayor. She is one of only two women to have been elected mayor, and is the only person in Houston history to have held the offices of council member, controller and mayor.  She was the first openly GLBT mayor of a major American city.
 
In 2010 Time magazine named Mayor Parker one of the 100 most influential people in the world.  Fast Company magazine selected Houston as City of the Year for 2011. She was named top US mayor and seventh ranked world mayor in 2014 by City Mayors Foundation. She has received numerous awards during her career, including Scenic Houston’s 2010 Scenic Visionary Award, 2010 Guardian of the Human Spirit Award from Holocaust Museum Houston, 2011 Guardian of the Bay Award from Galveston Bay Foundation, Rice University Distinguished Alumna for 2011, and the Local Arts Leadership 2015 honoree by Americans for the Arts.
 
In addition to her duties as mayor, Parker was a member of President Obama’s Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, chaired the U.S. Conference of Mayors Criminal and Social Justice Committee, and served on the boards of the Texas Environmental Research Consortium and Houston Galveston Area Council.
 
Mayor Parker is a second generation native Houstonian. She graduated from Rice University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree before Rice had a major in the study of women, gender, and sexuality. In the private sector, Parker spent 20 years working in the oil and gas industry, including 18 years with Mosbacher Energy Company. She also co-owned Inklings, a lesbian/feminist bookstore for 10 years.
 
Parker and her wife Kathy Hubbard have been together for more than 25 years and are advocates for adoption, with three daughters and a son.