Maynard & Gale, P.C. is pleased to announce that Craig Parker - lawyer, business leader and successful entrepreneur, advisor, and investor - is joining the firm as its first Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Parker will be based in Maynard’s Birmingham office where he will serve as a coach and consultant within Maynard’s newly established EIR Program. In this role, Parker will focus on helping younger lawyers develop the skills and insight needed to represent and add value to entrepreneurs and start-up companies, as well as advising early stage and start-up companies from the perspective of an effective business leader and lawyer who has taken a number of early-stage companies to successful exits. Parker will enhance Maynard’s innovative Corporate and M&A practices bringing his unique background and experience to the corporate law practice.

“Maynard started with an entrepreneurial culture,” said Greg Curran, Chair of the Firm and a Corporate and M&A lawyer. “We believe having Craig as our Entrepreneur-in-Residence is a great opportunity to further this entrepreneurial spirit at the firm and to invest in the lawyers who will be a part of Birmingham’s technology-based economy for years to come.”

In connection with his role as Maynard’s first Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Parker is leading a team that is commercializing a new spin-out from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) – Patient Care Connect (PCC). PCC is based on proven patient engagement protocols developed by leading clinicians and scientists at UAB, and the Patient Care Connect solution has already delivered millions of dollars in proven savings for hospitals and their patients.

“Beginning the commercialization of Patient Care Connect surrounded by the talented lawyers at a firm that is committed to representing and adding value to early stage and start-up companies is a great opportunity for mutual value and benefit,” said Parker. “We are really excited about the promise Patient Care Connect has for improving care while reducing unnecessary costs. Being able to start with the support and legal resources at our fingertips through this relationship with Maynard will provide a real advantage at a critical time in the company’s development. We see great synergies between our solution-based approach to healthcare opportunities and Maynard’s commitment to innovation and providing business advice and problem-solving.”

About Patient Care Connect

Patient Care Connect, an innovative approach to patient engagement created and proven at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), offers patients, employers and the medical community a new engagement model that has been proven to result in increased patient satisfaction, reduced resource utilization and decreased healthcare costs. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 1,630 people per day die of cancer in the U.S. It is estimated that the cost of cancer is increasing at a rate of about 15% per year, which is nearly three times the rate of overall health costs. The Patient Care Connect model, designed by leading clinicians and scientists at UAB, is addressing the massive cost and impact of cancer by improving care and saving critical dollars for employers and payors.

About Craig Parker

Parker is a skilled executive having served in senior management roles with four prior technology companies in positions ranging from CFO to EVP to CEO. Parker’s experience in the technology sector includes stints with a manufacturing systems integrator, a medical imaging software provider, a hybrid medical services solution that combined on-site and remote specialty physicians and a market leading public safety platform.

Parker began his career as a CPA for four years with Arthur Andersen & Co. He then earned his J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Alabama and practiced with King & Spalding (Atlanta) and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (Washington, D.C., London), where he focused on transactional matters involving corporate finance, mergers, acquisitions and corporate governance. Parker is a native of Cincinnati, OH and holds an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.