Susan Parke served as Executive Director of the Museum of Northwest Art (MoNA) in La Conner, Washington from 1990 until 2003. In 2003, Parke left the directorship to be Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at MoNA, her first love in museum work. At MoNA she produced or co-produced nearly 200 exhibitions and oversaw the publication of numerous books and catalogs in partnership with University of Washington Press. Susan retired as curator in April 2007 and presently is a freelance curator and art consultant.

Parke's background includes ten years as the owner of two contemporary galleries in Illinois: Susan Parke Contemporary Graphics and the Susan Parke Gallery. She has worked in university museums and galleries at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

She holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Toronto. She has extensive graduate training in studio art, art history and museum studies from Edgewater College, Wright State University, Parkland College and the University of Illinois.

Parke lives in Anacortes, Washington with her husband, painter Dederick Ward.