Parker Bunton

Parker Bunton is Pharrow’s CEO and Principal owner who works with businesses to ensure the resources they have at their disposal provides the greatest impact for their desired outcomes. Parker manages the execution of projects and designs the internal architecture of Pharrow to allow it to deliver on its customer service strategy of Excellence, Expedience, and Efficiency. With prior experience in organizations from non-profits to the corporate office, Parker has worked to allow for the work that needs to be done the easiest way possible allowing organizations to surpass benchmarks and adopt new methodologies of working.

Parker believes that the development of a Black Business Ecosystem that can sustain itself is key for the economic mobility of Black citizens. Growing up a biracial child with his father, a Black business owner, many discussions were had growing up on how to improve the condition of Black Americans. Seeing the dichotomy of socioeconomic generational finances between his mother’s side and his fathers, Parker has focused his efforts to apply his knowledge to work to resolve this discrepancy for his family and other Black families. Going through college pursuing Supply Chain Management and always having a passion for history and economics, Parker seeks to apply what he has learned to improve the Supply Chain of Black businesses to allow them to stand on their own and provide for their communities through times of crises.

Believing there are unique experiences and opportunities within Black communities that can allow the Black Business Ecosystem to be resilient through these challenging civil, climate, and economic times, Parker has assembled a team to help him execute the work that needs to be done. This team of Black specialists in various fields (Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance) with experience ranging from the warehouse floor to the corporate office will allow Pharrow to work on a variety of issues and enhance Black business to succeed through any challenges that may come their way.

Parker currently works at IBM as a Procurement Professional managing/executing projects deploying Blockchain to ease the back-end resources of business groups and enhance the resilience of operations. Prior, he worked as a Sourcing Professional, acquiring services/tools for the Capital (Large) Machines commodity and ensuring that client’s purchases were executed and controlled in the chaotic Covid economy. Parker was able to secure $800k (2021) in savings for his clients through negotiation and management of the Path to Purchase systems of IBM. Parkers encompassing insights of Supply Chain was instrumental in conversations with suppliers to understand their concerns and then align those concerns with client wants and needs.

During college, Parker was an active leader in the Multicultural Business Students (MBS) of the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, an organization with the largest contingent of Black and marginalized students within the college. During his tenure as President(2018-2019) he created efficiencies for his team of nine to allow for improved operations and increase paid membership by 50% from the year prior (70 at 2018 close to 105 at 2019 close).

Parker is a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), allowing him to provide and advise on the planning/execution of projects in a professional manner. In his prior role as Sourcing Professional, he was awarded 3 Net Promoter Score Awards (client feedback ranked at 10 with positive comments) within his first year at IBM.

Parker holds a B.A. in Supply Chain Management form Michigan State University.