Executive Summary: Parker focused on securing ‘greatness’ for others, region

Editor’s note: The Fort Smith Metro Daily News Executive Summary series is focused on looking under the title, so to speak, of a business, government, and non-profit executive in the Fort Smith metro.

Kyle D. Parker is the president and CEO of the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education, and has overseen the creation of eight healthcare professional programs. He also played a key role in creating the Village at Heritage, Celebration Garden and Wellness Park, and the ACHE Research Institute Health & Wellness Center (RIHWC).

Parker previously was vice chancellor of operations with the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, where he was initially responsible for the technology needs of students, staff, and faculty. His role expanded in 2010 to include the strategic direction for growth at UAFS.

He also directed Law Office Information Systems (LOIS) from conception in 1989 to a 500-employee company. He took LOIS public in 1999, where the stock traded on NASDAQ. During his tenure with LOIS, he was recognized by numerous state and federal courts for revolutionizing legal research and making it affordable.

In 2001 he directed the sale of LOIS in excess of $100 million to Wolters Kluwer, an Amsterdam-based world publishing company. At the time of the acquisition, LOIS had more than 23,000 law firms, every accredited law school in the U.S. and every state appellate court, including the U.S. Supreme Court, as customers.

Parker began as a private practice attorney in 1986 and, while in law school, wrote the first artificial intelligence software (CLARA) ever granted a registered copyright for the legal profession. He then created a word search engine and digitized the Arkansas legal case opinions, statutory and regulatory laws in 1989 to release the first legal CD-ROM in history (CaseBase).

Parker, a graduate of Northside High School, received his bachelor’s degree from Arkansas Tech University and his law degree from Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H.

• What was your first job and what did it teach you?
My first real job other than mowing yards at age 10 was in high school. I worked during the summer at Plastics Specialty across from Sparks Hospital assembling Rebel and Norman fishing lures. My job was to put on the hangers and hooks on the lures. What I discovered was that the fellow employees were the salt of the earth, working for minimum wage, family oriented, strong values, and generally happy. It taught me that no matter the level of income or education, all people really desire is to be happy and get along with one another.

• What is a principle or value on which you never compromise?
Honesty and giving my best effort to complete my promises to self and others.

• What’s one belief you held strongly 10+ years ago that you’ve changed your mind about?
I used to believe that a person’s word was binding once hands were shaken. Law school, business ventures, and everyday life of dealing with others changed that. I still believe that a person’s word should be their bond, but today I back up that belief and commitment with a subsequent confirmation of written communication to avoid any amnesia that might occur in the future.

• If you could change one thing about the Fort Smith metro, what would it be?
I grew up in this city. I have seen it move in many directions over my 68 years of life. I remember Fort Smith being a medical mecca with Holt Krock and Cooper Clinics, Sparks Hospital, and even shaking hands with President Gerald Ford when the ribbon was cut for Mercy Hospital. I watched that crumble but am pleased that it is on the mend. The furniture factories and Whirlpool leaving created a huge gap economically. Today, businesses are returning, health care is expanding, the incredible growth of Chaffee Crossing with manufacturing, residential homes, apartments, commercial restaurants, boutiques, and for the first time in Fort Smith, doctoral degrees are granted in healthcare. And now, the fantastic F-35 program. All of these things are transforming Fort Smith and the region. What I would change is the negativity of some of the people who only point out the issues that occur in every city. My take is to quit complaining and do something about it.

• What’s a lesson you’ve learned the hard way?
Just because someone tells you that they are going to do something, doesn’t mean it’s true.

• What keeps you up at night professionally?
At the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education, we have many irons in the fire in the world of academia and development of infrastructure in fulfilling our mission. Built from nothing, every startup has challenges. Going from the “little engine that could” to now a “teenager,” multiple items of opportunities for achieving greatness for the benefit of others come in my mind every day starting about 4 a.m.

• What methods have you found most effective in engaging with and incorporating feedback from your community or team?
When putting together a team, you should always find someone better than you at the given task, then get out of the way. Always inspect what you expect, but make sure they have the tools for success. The most important engagement is to listen so that you can make an informed decision on direction. Remember, God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.

• What historical period do you find the most fascinating, and why?
The age of Jefferson (1801) to Jackson (1837). That time period was the foundational forming of our country. Even though we became a country earlier, the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights were being put into practice, including our financial structure and the implementation of state versus federal rights.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SUBJECTS
Following are the links to previous posts in the Executive Summary series.
ArcBest Chair and CEO Judy McReynolds
Fort Smith Mayor George McGill
BHC President and CEO Marty Clark
Maryl Koeth Purvis, director of the Van Buren Advertising and Promotion Commission
University of Arkansas at Fort Smith Chancellor Dr. Terisa Riley
Fort Smith Public Library Director Jennifer Goodson
Bill Hanna, president, CEO, board chairman, Hanna Oil & Gas
Rodney Shepard, regional executive for Arvest Bank’s southwest region
Fort Smith Police Chief Danny Baker
Dr. Sandy Johnson, co-founder of Johnson Dermatology