Katherine G. Parker was hired Monday night by the town board and succeeds Traci V. Storey, who was hired as city clerk in Roanoke Rapids.
Town Administrator Mark Macon said Parker’s duties include managing accounts payable, utility billing, human resources, finance officer and clerk to the town board.
“The town board decided to hire her because of her education and her ability to do the job,” Macon said this afternoon. “She’s going to do well because she has that desire and tenacity. She will do well in this position because the town and its citizens have a high regard for her abilities.”
Macon said the town received 20 applications for the position and interviewed three. Of those interviewed, Macon said, Parker “prevailed in that process.”
Parker holds a bachelor of arts in English from Bennett College and earned a masters in public administration from Clark Atlanta University.
During graduate school, she focused her studies on issues involving policy, children, community and economic development.
While in Atlanta, Parker worked at Robert W. Woodruff Library as a graduate research assistant. While in graduate school, she developed her research policy skills working with Edgecombe County’s Cooperative Extension Office, the office of Governor Beverly Perdue and United States Congressman G. K. Butterfield.
Her graduate final presentation included research on the dynamics of the Roanoke Valley, including a focus on the town of Weldon and the recreational needs for children.
Her thesis was A Systems Theory Approach to Building a Strategic Operational Plan for the Development of Shiloah Landing in Edgecombe County, North Carolina.
Returning to North Carolina in 2014, she previously worked at the Northampton County Manager’s Office where she assisted the clerk to the board, completed numerous projects and policies for the county manager and the board of commissioners.
She also served as a committee member to coordinate the Weldon Back to School Bash in 2015.
She joined the Weldon Police Department this year as the public Information officer and administrative assistant, with a focus on coordinating various community policing events and managing the various social media networks.
She continues to volunteer in the community with the Eastern North Carolina Alumnae Chapter of Bennett College, serving as financial secretary, and the Enfield-Roanoke Rapids Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
She is also a May graduate from the Rural Economic Development Institute Class.
She enjoys music, dancing and learning about the global community.
She is the daughter of Dr. Mae B. Parker, granddaughter of Erma H. Reese and has three siblings.