Sharon Thomas Parrott

Senior Vice President, Government and Regulatory Affairs
Chief Compliance Officer
DeVry Inc.

Sharon Thomas Parrott is Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer of DeVry Inc. 

DeVry's purpose is to empower its students to achieve their educational and career goals. DeVry (NYSE: DV, member S&P 500 Index) is a global provider of educational services and the parent organization of Advanced Academics, Becker Professional Education, the Carrington Colleges, Chamberlain College of Nursing, DeVry Brasil, DeVry University, and Ross University Schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. These institutions offer a wide array of programs in business, healthcare and technology and serve students in secondary through postsecondary education as well as accounting and finance professionals.

Thomas Parrot came to DeVry Inc. in 1982 to establish student financial aid compliance programs. She was appointed Vice President of Government Relations and Student Finance in 1989 and Chief Compliance Officer in 2004.  She is responsible for the design, implementation, enforcement and monitoring of the organization’s comprehensive corporate and government compliance and internal audit programs.  In addition, she directs government relations and state and provincial regulatory licensing.

Prior to DeVry, Thomas Parrott worked at the U.S Department of Education where she began her work in the area of student financial aid at the Chicago office and later directed national training programs in Washington D.C.  Thomas Parrott has also held positions at the Loyola University of Chicago as director of academic support program and faculty or administrative positions at Harlan High School in Chicago, Dominican University, Northeastern University and George Williams College in Illinois.

She currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Urban Students Empowered Foundation, a college access and success network, as an informed source on college pricing for The College Board, and is an inaugural member of the 100 Wise Women, a program designed to provide networking and mentoring opportunities for women leaders in Chicago.

Thomas Parrott served on the Advisory Committee of Women Employed “Upgrade Your Future” Taskforce, on the steering committee of the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative, as a member of the National Research Council’s Panel on Quality Improvement in Student Financial Aid Programs, and as a Chicago Public School Principal for a Day at her alma mater John Marshall Harlan High School. In 2000, Crain’s Chicago Business named Thomas Parrott to the 100 Women Making a Difference in Chicago listing. 

Thomas Parrott received bachelor's and master’s degrees in history from the University of Illinois and did doctoral coursework in higher education policy and leadership.  She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and lives in Chicago, Illinois with her husband and daughter.