POLITICAL SPEAKER
Palm Beach State College President
Dr. Ava L. Parker leads Palm Beach County’s largest higher education institution with a strategic approach emphasizing innovation, student success and business and community collaboration. She is the first female president in the history of the institution. Before joining Palm Beach State in 2015, President Parker was executive vice president and chief operating officer at Florida Polytechnic University. She also served for more than a decade on the Florida Board of Governors of the State University System and served on the University of Central Florida’s Board of Trustees. She was a partner in the Jacksonville law firm of Lawrence & Parker, general counsel at Edward Waters College, general counsel for the 11th Episcopal District of the AME Church, assistant general counsel for the state Department of Transportation, and assistant public defender in Miami-Dade County.
