Alumni and Friends Directory

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Biography

Dennis A. Parker earned an Accounting degree from USU in 1967 and joined the national CPA firm of Fox & Company, which later merged into Grant Thornton. During his tenure there, he was an audit partner, head of the accounting service department, head of the tax department, and served on the board of directors. In 1979, he moved to Portland as the partner-in-charge of the Portland office.

In 1988, he and a partner purchased Cummins Northwest, Inc., which grew into one of the top 100 privately held companies in the Northwest with approximately 500 employees in 15 locations throughout Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Alaska. The company focused primarily on the sale of units, parts, and service of Cummins diesel engines and Onan generators. Dennis served as executive vice president over daily operations, parts, service, finance, and personnel. The business was sold in 2006. During his time with Cummins, Dennis and his son designed and wrote the programming for a business management and reporting system and sold the rights to all the other Cummins distributors throughout the United States and Canada. In a survey administered by IBM, the system was rated as the number one business tool for managing a business.

With a team of three other people, Dennis later purchased Thermo King Northwest, which manufactures temperature control units for trucks, trailers, rail cars, ocean-going containers, and Club Car golf cars. Dennis has loved the various positions he has had throughout his career and enjoys the challenges of building a business. Even though he is only at the office one or two days a month, he states, “the best part of it is, that with a computer, internet, and a phone, I can do most of my work from any place in the world.”

Dennis is a native of Lanark, Idaho near Bear Lake and is married to Julie Rich, also a USU alum who majored in art; and, according to Dennis, is the best part of his life. They are the parents of two children and six grandchildren. Dennis and Julie have traveled extensively throughout the United States and the world, making lasting friendships that they treasure. They recently purchased a vacation home at Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast, which Dennis describes as one of the most beautiful places in the world. Here, they are able to relax with family and friends and as Dennis says, “listen to the music of the ocean.”