Hall of Fame Member Biographies

Joseph L. Parker, Jr.

Joseph L. “Jody” Parker was born in Tulsa on November 18, 1947. He attended Tulsa public schools through ninth grade before going to Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, graduating in 1965. He followed his parents’ footsteps to the University of Nebraska, where he earned a bachelor’s in English in 1969. Awarded a Boeing fellowship, he entered the University of Washington and received his MBA in 1972. Upon completing his studies, he returned to Tulsa with his wife and infant daughter.

Parker went to work for a start-up called U-Gas-It, the company responsible for introducing self-service gasoline to Tulsa. This resulted in an affiliation with Quik Trip Corporation that allowed them to enter the Tulsa market as its first convenience store enterprise to provide self-service gasoline. Following a five-year career in the gasoline business, Parker joined his father’s company, Anchor Stone Co., and being involved in a number of construction-related industries. After serving in a variety of roles at the company, he became the chairman in 1997. The company is now focused exclusively on providing construction aggregates to customers in northeast Oklahoma, northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri.

In 1989, Parker had his first direct exposure to Oklahoma’s education system when Gov. Bellmon appointed him to Task Force 2000, a body created by the Oklahoma legislature charged with developing a blueprint for dramatically improving common education in the state. Gov. Henry appointed Parker to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education in 2005, and he was appointed to a second term by Gov. Fallin in 2014. He served as the board’s chairman in 2011 and 2020. 

For more than 40 years, Parker has devoted both time and resources to support Tulsa and the state. Amongst his many leadership positions, he has served on the Task Force for Economic Development in 2011, the Task Force on Tax Reform in 2002, the Oklahoma Council on Judicial Complaints and the Oklahoma State and Education Employees Group Insurance Plan. Other boards he has served on include Philbrook Art Museum, Holland Hall School, Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, Tulsa Psychiatric Center, Tulsa Sports Commission, Junior Achievement of Greater Tulsa and, most recently, the Bob Dylan Center.

Though Parker continues to serve as chairman of Anchor Stone Co., he and his partner of 40 years are in the middle of handing the reins to the next generation. He currently divides his time between his Tulsa and New York City homes.