When Vallerie Parrish-Porter won the 2003 Technologist of the Year award, she was responsible for the strategic direction of Hewlett-Packard's information technology (IT) resources.

She held significant positions as chief information officer (CIO) and comptroller in Fortune 500 companies.

Before the merger of HP and Compaq, she was vice president of IT Worldwide Sales and Services for Compaq. She led global strategic development focused on delivering innovative technology and business solutions.

At Hewlett-Packard (HP) Information Technology for five years, Parrish-Porter was recognized for breaking barriers in a male-dominated industry.

Before that, she was Schlumberger's systems director for almost two decades.

As CIO of Embarq Corporation, Parrish-Porter ran enterprise information systems after serving as vice president of information technology services for Sprint Nextel.

Embarq served customers in 18 states and provided local, long-distance, high-speed data, and wireless services to its customers. It was the local telephone division of Sprint Nextel until 2006, when it was spun off as an independent company.

Embarq had approximately 18,000 employees.

As senior vice president at Magellan Associates, her focus was addressing challenges facing chief information officers (CIO) and other C-level executives.

She was CEO of the ClearView Management Company for eight years before retiring in 2020. ClearView focused on technology strategies, change management, and leadership development.

Parrish-Porter earned an MBA from the University of Miami and a bachelor's degree in accounting at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge. She has served on the board of directors of Junior Achievement Houston.