Mr. Parsons is a graduate of Harvard College (1963) and the Harvard Graduate School of Design (1967) where he held an IBM Fellowship. He was a project manager at Building Systems Development, an architectural firm specializing in innovative building technologies and processes. He taught architecture and construction management at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. He then consulted in project management, including development of the planning framework for the very complex rebuilding of Milwaukee's waste treatment system. In the 1980's, Mr. Parsons designed, built and managed several hi-tech manufacturing facilities where he developed an interest in computer simulation of manufacturing processes. In 1994 he joined the firm of Simulation Dynamics, Inc.

, where he built computer models for communications, manufacturing, logistic supply chains, nuclear waste disposal, and rocket assembly.