The CEO at FanFirst Events, FanFirst Distribution, and Patencio Development, Parker and teams specialize in the provision of sales, marketing, brand management, licensing, retail, distribution, and advisory services for pop culture product brands seeking to expand their distribution of toys, collectibles, and lifestyle products across the Americas, Asia, and Europe. In recent times leading into and beyond the Covid era, an enormous focus on the implementation of livestreaming, direct-to-consumer e-commerce, kawaii (cute Japan-inspired products, mainly targeting girls) marketing, pop up stores, fan conventions (including FanFirst Events  “Otaku Pavilion”), and new product development initiatives has been a priority. 

Key Asia clients past/present include (from Japan) Studio Ghibli, Benelic, Cyber Agent, Kaiyodo, Fukuya, Sega Fave, Remow, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Kotobukiya, Mag.net (Marubeni & Shogakukan), and My Grimmi (Korea). In No. America, Patencio Dev’t supports 100% Soft (Marvel and Dumpster Fire lines), Juguetimax (in Mexico), The Horror Section, Momocon, Animania restaurants, Pinfinity, and national specialty retailers Hot Topic & Box Lunch. Across Europe support is provided to Cosmic Group, Infinite Statue, and Tsume Art. 

A veteran international executive with broad experience in wholesale and retail marketing, Parker has previously been the President of Bluefin Distribution (now Bandai Namco America) in launching and expanding the No. American distribution and brand management of Bandai, Studio Ghibli, Good Smile, Capcom, and many other of the best toys and collectibles from Japan. He led the purchasing and establishment of a 50,000-sf warehouse, DTC operations, and office facility in Southern California along with the installation of a cutting-edge ERP system for distribution operations. Within a 4-year period, company sales grew from $9M to nearly $60M, and expanded distribution from 200 to over 20,000 stores in multiple retail channels. 

Earlier, Parker was the Vice President of Development for Diamond Comic Distributors, the market leading distributor for the independent comic book and collectibles industries, where he created and established programs for the sales and distribution of pop culture toys and collectibles for over 700 manufacturers for dozens of product categories in more than 70 countries, generating annual sales in excess of $200M. Parker previously spent 12 years as the President of Japanese pop culture pioneer, TOKYOPOP, responsible for the early trends that has led to the enormous success of the anime and manga categories in Europe and No. America. This created a new market for girls as comic consumers in No. America, Germany, the UK, and dozens of other countries. 

Parker started his career in specialty chain store retail in California with responsibility for over 100 stores and 1,500 employees while later operating a retail chain of over 50 stores in Hong Kong and Taiwan for 5 years. He has operated businesses across Europe, Asia, and Japan for over 30 years.