Soldotna vice mayor inducted to Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame

Published 10:30 pm Thursday, November 6, 2025

On Oct. 21, Soldotna City Council Vice Mayor Lisa Parker was inducted to the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame, making her one of 10 women inducted this year.

The AWHF is a nonprofit organization recognizing the accomplishments of women who live in or are from Alaska. The project began in 2009 when the Alaska Women’s Network sought to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Alaska’s statehood. 245 women have been inducted to the AWHF since its creation.

“The Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame talks about people from all communities in Alaska, from all walks of life, from all capacities,” said AWHF board member Jane Angvik during the induction ceremony. “What we’re trying to do is make sure that these stories are retained in perpetuity for a long time so people can understand all the different roles women have played in Alaska.”

Parker’s roles have covered everything from public service, conservation policy and local government over the course of her decades-long career. Her legacy began in high school when she was babysitting for legislator Gene Guess.

“Over the course of the years, as things would unfold, I’d be like, ‘Well, why are we doing it like this?’ or, ‘Why is that being ignored?’” she told the Clarion Wednesday. “I just always had an interest in finding out how the government functions and works.”

Parker was born in Fairbanks and raised in what is today East Anchorage. When she was in high school, she withdrew from a class after the end of the first quarter, but her report card showed she had received an F in the course. Knowing this would affect her standing in the National Honors Society, she talked to her teachers, who directed her to her school’s counselor, who said the school’s policy on withdrawing was set in stone.

After realizing every school in the area had different policies around withdrawing from classes early, Parker took her case to the school board and convinced them to make one district-wide policy.

“That was kind of the start of me asking questions,” she said.

But it was far from the end.

Parker became the youngest person in Alaska to achieve elected office when she served on the Anchorage Charter Commission at the age of 19. In 1975, that commission unified the City of Anchorage with the Borough of Anchorage into the municipality it is today.

While attending American University in Washington, D.C., Parker was awarded the national Harry S. Truman Scholarship for Alaska for academic excellence and public service. She graduated with a degree in political science and assisted in the Red Dog Mine’s establishment in northwestern Alaska soon after.

Parker’s resume includes a long list of firsts. She was the first female planning director for the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the first statewide coordinator of the Alaska Land Use Council and the first executive director of the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council. She was on the University of Alaska Board of Regents from 2015-2023, and she has been elected or appointed to dozens of key boards and commissions over the years. She is currently president of the Alaska Municipal League board of directors in addition to holding her seat as vice mayor on the Soldotna City Council. She’s served on the Soldotna City Council for the past 14 years.

Despite this long list of achievements, Parker said one of her initial reactions to her induction was, “Wow, how did my name get included?”

“There’s a phenomenal group of ladies on this list,” she said. “To be recognized, to be honored, it goes right to the heart. I couldn’t do it alone. If I didn’t have the support of my husband and my family, I wouldn’t be there.”

Parker’s advice to Alaskan women is to get involved and stay engaged. Women in Alaska, she says, have more opportunity than anywhere else in the country.

“If you have a passion, find an organization that is affiliated with your passion,” she said. “You will meet people and it will probably open up opportunities and doors that you might not expect. Always reach out, always ask the question: The main question being, ‘Why?’”

Nominations for next year are open on the Alaska Women’s Hall of Fame website.

This story was updated Friday to clarify that Lisa Parker was the first female Kenai Peninsula Borough planning director, and that she was born in Fairbanks and raised in was is now East Anchorage.