Parks began his professional life as a CPA at Peat Marwick, now KPMG, after graduating from the University of Southern California in 1972. This background in tax and business management provided the analytical framework for his shift into real estate during the 1980s. He gained early momentum by acquiring two apartment buildings totaling 360 units, a move that doubled his investment within 18 months and established a repeatable formula for value creation.

His firm, APW Avenue Group, founded in 2001, focuses on properties that require aggressive restructuring and active management. The most significant test of this philosophy arrived with the Hotel Barrière Fouquet's New York. After the Tribeca development suffered through years of delays, Parks and his wife, Xtina Parks, took majority ownership. They successfully navigated the project's financial and physical hurdles, culminating in a 2022 opening and a subsequent $145 million refinancing deal led by Goldman Sachs in 2026.

Beyond real estate, Parks steered LaserPacific Media Corp. through its own financial and technological transition as chairman and CEO before its sale to Eastman Kodak in 2003. Today, his focus is divided between continued investment and philanthropic efforts, including the restoration of a century-old estate in New York and supporting wildlife conservation in Botswana through the Roam Africa organization.