Vana Hammond Parham, assistant vice president and senior legal counsel at AT&T, served with the Dallas Police Department as a senior corporal early in her professional career. Parham, who has held a love for law her entire life, earned her J.D. from Texas A&M University but segued into law enforcement after hearing a radio plea for Dallas Police Academy applications while driving on the freeway one day in the early 2000s.
“I was working a job I didn’t like at the time, and I spoke to my mom about becoming a police officer,” Parham recalled. “My mom said I would be good at it, and I gave it a shot and attended a weekend police seminar they hosted.”
After the seminar she was hooked. Ignited by a journey of self-discovery, Parham served on the force for eight years. “The more I worked, the more I liked serving,” she said. “When you’re a police officer, you’re pushed in ways you’ve never been pushed. During the police academy training, you find out who you are and your own limits. I learned a lot more about myself and the city of Dallas than I thought I would when I started.”
After she felt she left her mark with DPD, Parham went on to serve as the assistant city attorney calling upon her first passion, then was named chief of community relations for the city, and worked on former Mayor Mike Rawlings’ Grow South initiative. She moved to AT&T in 2019 as executive vice president of external and legislative affairs and was promoted to her current post in March of 2021.
