Tracy LaQuey Parker
{{short description|Canadian-American businesswoman}}
Tracy LaQuey Parker is a Canadian-American businesswoman. She is the senior vice president at Parker Solutions Group. Before joining the company, LaQuey Parker worked for Cisco as a chief technology officer and started The UTeach Institute. Apart from her career, LaQuey Parker became the first person to win a lawsuit against a spammer and was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2017.
Early life and education
LaQuey Parker was born in Newfoundland on a United States Air Force base. After moving to Texas, she went to the University of Texas at Austin for a Bachelor of Arts degree and specialized in computer science.{{cite web |title=UTeach Advisory Council |url=https://uteach.utexas.edu/uteach-advisory-council |website=University of Texas at Austin |accessdate=1 October 2018}}
Career
In 1988, she started working for the University of Texas with the Texas Higher Education Network. While with the university, she was a part of the Texas Education Network in 1991 that connected Texan teachers to the Internet.{{cite web |title=Tracy LaQuey Parker |url=https://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/tracy-laquey-parker |website=Internet Hall of Fame |accessdate=2 October 2018}} She left the university to work with Cisco Systems as a chief technology officer. While at Cisco, she was in charge of projects that introduced the Internet to schools globally. After creating The UTeach Institute in 2006, LaQuey Parker went to Parker Solutions Group and became the Senior Vice President of the Business Development department.{{cite web |title=Board of Directors |url=http://txfic.org/about/board-of-directors |website=Texas Foundation For Innovative Communities |accessdate=25 October 2018}}
Apart from her technological career, LaQuey Parker authored The User's Directory of Computer Networks in 1988 and The Internet Companion in 1992.{{cite news |last1=Gallaga |first1=Omar L. |title=Austin Internet pioneer Tracy LaQuey Parker on how it began and where we're going |url=https://www.statesman.com/news/20171027/austin-internet-pioneer-tracy-laquey-parker--on-how-it-began-and-where-were-going |accessdate=1 October 2018 |work=Austin American-Statesman |date=26 October 2017}} In May 1997, LaQuey Parker was the lead plaintiff in a spamming lawsuit.{{cite magazine |last1=Girard |first1=Kim |title=Ticked-off users head for court |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OkHVjtWXNaYC&pg=PT20 |magazine=Computerworld |date=2 June 1997 |accessdate=1 October 2018 |page=16}} In the case, LaQuey Parker sued defendant Craig Nowak after he used her company website via email spoofing to send spam emails.{{cite web |title=Antispam efforts heat up |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/antispam-efforts-heat-up/ |website=cnet |accessdate=28 November 2018 |date=14 November 1997}} As a result, LaQuey Parker received over five thousand emails ranging from hate mail to bounced messages between March 31 and April 1, 1997.{{cite magazine |last1=Craddock |first1=Ashley |title=Small-Time Spammer Slapped with Suit |url=https://www.wired.com/1997/05/small-time-spammer-slapped-with-suit/ |magazine=Wired |accessdate=1 October 2018 |date=29 May 1997}}{{cite news |last1=Lebkowsky |first1=Jon |title=The Fight Against Unsolicited E-mail |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/1997-07-04/529216/ |accessdate=1 October 2018 |work=Austin Chronicle |date=4 July 1997}} After a November 1997 Texas District Court verdict ruled in favor of LaQuey Parker,[http://www.loundy.com/CASES/Parker_v_CN_Enterprises.html Parker v. C.N. Enterprises], No. 97-06273 (Travis Co. District Court, 1997) she became the first person to win a lawsuit against a spammer.
Awards and honors
References
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{{Internet Hall of Fame}}
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Women chief technology officers
Category:American chief technology officers