Mark Parkinson is a native Kansan with roots in Scott City, where he still owns the family farm. Born in Wichita, Governor Parkinson graduated from Wichita Heights High School before going on to graduate summa cum laude from Wichita State University in 1980. He graduated first in his class from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1984. Governor Parkinson then entered private practice, forming his own law firm in 1986. He was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1990 and to the Kansas Senate two years later. In 2006, he joined Governor Kathleen Sebelius as her Lt. Governor. Parkinson became Kansas’ 45th Governor on April 28, 2009, completing Sebelius’s term following her appointment as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.