Houston City Controller Annise D. Parker is a second generation native Houstonian. She attended Rice University , graduating in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. In the private sector, Ms. Parker spent 20 years working in the oil and gas industry, including 18 years with Mosbacher Energy Company. She also co-owned a retail bookstore for 10 years.

Controller Parker was sworn in for a third term on January 2, 2008 . She is Houston 's 14 th City Controller, the second-highest elected city official, and serves as the City's Chief Financial Officer.

During her first two terms as Controller, Ms. Parker helped win overwhelming voter approval (85%) of Proposition 3, which gives the Controller's Office the independent authority to conduct performance reviews of all City departments, agencies and programs. She was also successful in securing a seat for a controller's appointee on the Houston Municipal Pension System Board of Trustees, marking the first time the city's chief financial officer has had any involvement in the pension system. In addition, Ms. Parker was tapped by Mayor Bill White to serve as a member of the stakeholders committee overseeing an independent investigation of the City's troubled crime lab, helped lead a task force charged with developing new funding options and policies for solid waste collection in the City of Houston and oversaw implementation of a new paperless payroll system that is saving the City $1 million annually.

Prior to her election as City Controller, Ms. Parker served for six years as an at-large member of Houston City Council. She chaired city council's Fiscal Affairs and Neighborhood Protection Committees and served on eight other committees, playing leadership roles in the creation of the City's $20 million Rainy Day Fund, a civic art program, a pooper-scooper law, tighter regulations for inner city development and the City's non-discrimination policy. She also represented Houston on the Alliance for Interstate 69 Texas Board, the Municipal Solid Waste Management and Resource Recovery Advisory Council of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the World Energy Cities Partnership.

Despite her duties as City Controller, Ms. Parker remains active in the Houston community, currently serving on the boards of the Holocaust Museum and Girls Inc., and as an advisory board member of the Houston Zoo, the Montrose Counseling Center and Trees for Houston.

In 2001, Ms. Parker was selected as “Council Member of the Year” by the Houston Police Officers Union. In 2002, she received the “Distinguished Local Elected Official Award” from the Texas Recreation and Park Society. She previously received the “Good Brick Award” from the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance for her restoration of historic properties in the Old Sixth Ward.

Ms. Parker and her life partner, Kathy Hubbard, have been together since 1990. They have two children.