37 Facts About Sean Parnell

Sean Randall Parnell was born on November 19,1962 and is an American attorney and politician who was the tenth governor of Alaska from 2009 to 2014.

Sean Parnell practiced law before being elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1992 and he continued to work in private legal practice while he was a member of the Alaska House and later, the Alaska Senate.

Sean Parnell served two terms in the Alaska House from 1993 to 1997 before he was elected to one term in the Alaska Senate from 1997 to 2001.

Sean Parnell continued his legal career in the private sector, working as an attorney and as the state government relations director for Phillips Petroleum, now known as ConocoPhillips, and an attorney at the law firm Patton Boggs.

Sean Parnell was sworn in as lieutenant governor of Alaska in December 2006 and later assumed the governorship after Palin resigned in July 2009.

Sean Parnell was elected to a full term as governor in 2010, defeating former state representative Ethan Berkowitz in the general election.

Sean Parnell is the first unelected Alaska governor to be elected in his own right.

Sean Parnell was narrowly defeated for a second term in 2014 by the formally Independent "unity ticket" of Republican-turned-Independent Bill Walker and Democrat Byron Mallott.

Sean Parnell became chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage on June 12,2021.

Sean Parnell was born in Hanford, California, the elder of two sons of Thelma Carol and Kevin Patrick "Pat" Sean Parnell.

Sean Parnell's mother worked as a high school teacher for more than twenty-five years.

Sean Parnell taught at Bartlett High School and East Anchorage High School, the latter a short distance from their home.

Sean Parnell worked in the family business as a teenager and during his college years.

Sean Parnell earned a BBA in 1984 from Pacific Lutheran University and a Juris Doctor in 1987 from the University of Puget Sound School of Law.

Sean Parnell is admitted to the bar in both Alaska and Washington, DC Parnell worked as an attorney in the private sector from 1987 to 2003,2005 to 2006, and in 2015 after his term as governor.

When Sean Parnell left the Alaska Senate, he became director of government relations in Alaska for Phillips Petroleum, which later became ConocoPhillips.

Patton Boggs represented ExxonMobil in the Exxon Valdez oil spill litigation, though Sean Parnell had no role in that representation or litigation.

Sean Parnell left Patton Boggs less than two years later on December 3,2006.

Sean Parnell was first elected to the Alaska House of Representatives, in 1992 at the age of twenty-nine.

Sean Parnell represented a district in Anchorage that included at that time, Independence Park, Dimond Blvd.

In 1994, Sean Parnell was re-elected to represent South Anchorage in the Alaska House.

In 1996, Sean Parnell ran for and was elected to a seat in the Alaska Senate and became a member of the Energy Council and served on the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

In 2000, Sean Parnell finished his first and only term in the state senate, choosing not to seek re-election.

Sean Parnell cited his commitment to his family as his reason and returned to work in the private sector.

Six years later, in 2006, Sean Parnell was elected lieutenant governor of Alaska, along with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

In July 2009, when Governor Palin resigned her position, Sean Parnell became governor and finished the term of office.

In 2010, Sean Parnell won a four-year term as governor in his own right.

In 2005, Sean Parnell ran and won in the Republican primary to become lieutenant governor.

On March 14,2008, Sean Parnell began his campaign to take on embattled 18-term member of Congress Don Young in the August 26 Republican primary.

Sean Parnell was endorsed by Sarah Palin, National Review magazine, and the fiscally conservative 5014 organization Club for Growth.

On July 31,2008, Sean Parnell told Roll Call he would not drop out of his race against Young to run against US Senator Ted Stevens, who had been indicted.

The margin between incumbent Young and Sean Parnell was narrow, and the winner was not immediately clear.

Sean Parnell said he trusted the integrity of the work of the Division of Elections, an agency he oversaw as Alaska's lieutenant governor.

Sean Parnell replaced her, becoming Alaska's tenth governor, in accordance with the Alaska Constitution.

Sean Parnell conceded the election to Bill Walker on November 15,2014.

Sean Parnell married his college girlfriend Sandy in 1987; the couple then returned to Anchorage where Sean Parnell began practicing law.

Sean Parnell returned to working as an attorney in private practice and opened a law firm, specializing in business law, contracts, and real estate.