Martin Parker Jr.,
Senior Construction Project Manager

With a career spanning several industries and surprising paths, Martin brings an accomplished background in teamwork and engagement to PGP. In his role as Manager of Special Projects and Strategic Initiatives, he’ll be acting as a utility player for the team, assisting with the coordination and management of PGP initiatives as well as with the sales process for PGP brand franchise recruitment.

Martin is the definition of a self-starter. From the time he was in high school, he was selling research to Yale University. He launched a non-profit without any idea how to do it—purely out of the goodness of his heart and his passion for helping others. He’s a complete science nerd (his words, not ours!) who made the most of a full-ride football scholarship and eventually earned a Superbowl ring with the New York Giants. Trust us when we tell you, you want this guy on your team.

And, more than most, Martin understands the importance of teamwork. After completing a career in professional football in the NFL, he pursued a passion for cooking and made himself an asset in the kitchen of Prime 16 in New Haven, CT. From there, he joined the Yale University Police Department as an officer where he spent four years on patrol and his final two years leading the department’s Community Engagement Unit.

Over his two years in the Community Engagement Unit, he helped develop and execute over 30 programs and initiatives and conducted over 150 community-focused events. Later, as Project Specialist for Virginia Heals/Department of Social Services in Richmond, VA, Martin helped roll out a state-wide model of service delivery to improve access to care across systems and provide first-hand support and care to children, youth, and families impacted by trauma and/or victimization.

Martin takes pride in what can be accomplished when we work together. He always puts his team before himself. He always looks forward to helping new operators and brands not only achieve dreams they have set for themselves and their business, but also create dreams they’ve yet to conceptualize. In his book, the operator and the brand always come first.

Having spent most of his professional life in the service of others, Martin sees PGP as the next step in his journey. He relies on past experiences in law enforcement and social service to go above and beyond what is needed to serve the operators and brands under the PGP umbrella.