Fish and Wildlife Service Parker was inspired to join the USFWS when Hannibal Bolton, a 1971 alumnus of the UAPB, visited the university to recruit students for a USFWS internship. She completed two internships with the USFWS, one in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota. She then moved to work for USFWS in the Columbia, Missouri Ecological Services Office, where she worked on providing ecological recommendations for federal permits and projects. She later was reassigned to work in the Missouri Bootheel region, the Midwest regional office in Minneapolis in 1990, and the Southeastern Regional Office in Atlanta in 1996, where she was appointed Deputy Assistant Regional Director of Fisheries and Deputy Geographic Assistant Regional Director in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. In 1998, Parker moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as Special Assistant to the Deputy Director and Director (now known as Chief of Staff) in the USFWS headquarters in Washington D.C. where she worked with programs in all 50 states. In 1999, she moved to the North Atlantic-Appalachian regional field office and served as the Northeast Regional Director, covering 13 northeastern states from Maine to Virginia and West Virginia. She was the first African American to lead as the director of a regional USFWS office in the agency's history. In 2003, she was appointed USFWS Assistant Director of Fisheries and Habitat Conservation. She was the first Black woman to hold this position. In this position, she provided leadership on national projects, including the National Fish Habitat Action Partnership, and served as the facilitator at the White House Conference on the Environment. She also served as co-chair of the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force. She was awarded the Presidential Rank Meritorious Service Award, the highest award given to government employees, for her leadership in the creation of the National Fish Habitat Action Partnership. Executive consulting Since retiring from the USFWS in 2007, Parker has worked as an executive leadership coach and speaker. She is a member of the Brown Advisory Sustainable Investment Board and serves as a principal consultant of EcoLogix Group, Inc. and Ma Parker and Associates. Clients include the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, the Bureau of Land Management, Defense Language Institute, the USFWS, the Maryland Department of Labor, the Department of the Interior, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Maryland Port Administration, Maryland Department of Labor, the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, National