Over the course of his long career, James R. Parks '72, MBT '75 has achieved great success as an accountant, tax consultant, financial analyst and real estate investor. While many of his contemporaries have retired to practice their golf swings, the double USC alumnus shows no sign of slowing down. Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Business Journal named him one of the city's most influential leaders and impactful executives on its annual LA500 list—for the sixth time!
How has he made this indelible impact on Los Angeles in so many fields? If you ask Parks, there's only one "secret" to his success: "The education and preparation I received over my years at USC…"
After earning his undergraduate degree from the USC Marshall School of Business, Parks decided that pursuing a master's degree would give him the proverbial leg up in the job market. He settled on the USC Leventhal School of Accounting's Master of Business Taxation (MBT) program, which had just begun admitting candidates. In fact, Parks and fellow Trojan Mike Palmer '72, MBT '75 were among the program's first students.
Nearly 50 years after he earned his MBT, Parks speaks fondly of the USC Leventhal professors who inspired him, like Andy Mosich, the namesake of the school's A.N. Mosich Chair in Accounting, and Jack Barcal, a tax and estate planning expert, who served as the director of the MBT program.
In 2015, Parks made one of the biggest gifts ever to USC Leventhal: a $15 million estate gift to name the MBT program, endow a chair and help renovate the accounting building. The Jennifer and James R. Parks Master of Business Taxation Program, as well as the Jennifer and James R. Parks Chair of Taxation, honors the memory of the longtime donor's late wife.
"USC gave so much to me that Jennifer and I both felt it was appropriate to give back. It was so important in my career trajectory and we wanted others in accounting to experience that."
Today, Parks continues to play an integral role in the life of his alma mater. In addition to serving on the USC Marshall and USC Leventhal boards, he chairs the board of advisors for the MBT program. For Parks, it's about ensuring that the program remains "the best in in the U.S.—and therefore the world."