Six years ago Parker’s then Board President Kay Grossman stepped down. “Someone needed to take the job,” Jonathan Marks said, “and I was privileged and honored to be given the opportunity to take it on.”

For the past 6 years, Marks, an alum from Parker’s class of ‘82, has served. “The term of Board President runs year to year,” Marks said, “but the longest time any president has served has been for a period of six years.”

The Parker board consists of 33 voting members as well as more nonvoting members. Nonvoting members include all faculty and student representatives, various administrators, and Principal Dan Frank.

When Marks became President he aimed to enhance the communication in Board meetings. Marks said, “My hope was to make the Board and its processes more accessible and understandable to the entire community.”

“Whenever we were at the board meetings,” Olivia Levine, a student board representative last year said, “he would make sure that everything was thought through, and he would always answer any questions that other Board members had.”

During board meetings, Marks made time to hear opinions from the student representatives. Levine said, “He would allow us to answer questions from the Board members about student perspectives on various subjects.”

Marks, who has lived in Chicago for almost his entire life, currently has three children enrolled in Parker: senior Rachel Marks, sophomore Josh Marks, and 7 grade student Julia Marks. He is currently a litigation attorney at the Katten Muchin Rosenman law firm.

Tim Friedman, Parker parent and board member for seven years, was there to see Marks become President.

“When Jonathan Marks took over there was a sense that we had big goals and were willing to work hard to reach them,” Friedman said. “People responded and rallied to these goals and worked very hard to achieve them.”

At the time Marks became President, the primary goals for the Board include maintaining the financial well-being of Parker and ensuring there were always enough resources to provide the best educational opportunities for students.

“Those remain central goals for the board and as the school stands on sound financial footing, and the education program continues to improve,” Marks said. “We have succeeded.”

As well as planning clear goals for the board, members saw Marks always upholding Parker’s values from his experiences being a Parker alum.

“He brought a view that Parker should always look to be more than what we are and works towards it,” Friedman said, “never to settle for what is just good, but to try for something great.”

During his tenure, the board collectively worked on many projects, including the Found Our Second Century Campaign (a project to add and improve infrastructure), a turf field, and the long term strategic plan.

“Jonathan encouraged the Board and the community to push the limits of what we thought we could do” Friedman said. “He did not want the community to be satisfied with the status quo.”

Marks made sure there was a suitable person to fill his role before leaving his position. “As I came to the end of my sixth year, it was important that there be someone highly qualified to take on the burden and responsibility,” Marks said. “Since there was someone available to take on the job who was so very capable, I felt comfortable stepping down.”

In the next three years, Marks will participate in the Board as a Trustee At Large. “I look forward to continuing to work on behalf of the school and supporting the new Board leadership,” Marks said, “ including its new President Brent Gledhill.”

Correction

A previous version of this article stated that Marks is a litigation partner at the Mayer Brown law firm. He is a litigation partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman.