Interior Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer has announced the appointment of Joe M. Parker, a Chickasaw Indian, as director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) Muskogee, Oklahoma area. The appointment was effective May 25.
Since 1976, Parker has been superintendent of the BIA' s Tahlequah, Oklahoma agency, one of seven agencies under the Muskogee area office.
A former Internal Revenue agent, Parker has a strong background in financial affairs and fiscal management. He was the Muskogee area accounting officer 1974-76. He was with the Internal Revenue Service thirteen years from 1960 to 1973. He also had a year's experience as a bookkeeper with the Great Western Oil and Gas Company.
Parker graduated from East Central State University in Oklahoma in 1960 and became a Licensed Public Accountant in 1977.
Born in Stonewall, Oklahoma in 1933, he served in the U.S. Navy 1952-56. He has completed numerous management training programs offered by the Department of the Interior and other agencies.
The BIA has a total of 12 area (regional) offices, most of them working with tribal groups in several states. The Muskogee area is geographically small, covering only the eastern half of Oklahoma. Tile area director is the line officer in charge of BIA programs and activities in the area.
