William James Parker III

William James Parker III, Ph.D., is an affiliate professor in the History Department at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include world history, national security, epidemiology, maritime operations and diplomacy topics related to the United States, NATO, Russia, China, Turkey, North Korea, Iran and India.

With over 35 years of experience in the maritime industry and international conflict resolution, Parker is a retired senior naval officer who after leaving the military served as the president and CEO of the EastWest Institute and the National Defense University Foundation before launching WilliamJParkerIII.com and founding Parker Maritime Technologies where he is CEO.

During nearly three decades in uniform, he served as the chief of staff for U.S. Naval Surface Forces, commanded three warships and a squadron of warships and was the 2009 recipient of the Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale Award for Inspirational Leadership. He was the U.S. Navy’s Military Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations. In addition to multiple combat tours, he held the post of senior advisor and strategist with the U.S. Embassies in Iraq and Pakistan.

Parker earned his doctorate degree in Philosophy, specializing in Biological Defense, from George Mason University, his master’s degree in Public Administration from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy.