{"id":36320,"date":"2023-07-20T03:36:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T10:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?p=36320"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:34:14","slug":"changemaker-earl-parker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/","title":{"rendered":"Honoring Earl Parker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019ve been following this year\u2019s Changemakers series<\/a>, sponsored by us and presented by Senior Housing News (SHN), you\u2019ve seen the range of inspiring honorees recognized so far. Each leader has been selected based on their ability to spark innovation, drive positive change and strategize ways to make the senior living industry a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next batch of three honorees is no different, which includes Earl Parker \u2014 an inspiring trailblazer and Yardi senior living client<\/a>! We\u2019re excited to share a snapshot of his interview below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yardi client Earl Parker named 2023 Changemaker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earl Parker is the CEO of Commonwealth Senior Living<\/a>, a Virginia-based organization with 37 senior living communities to date. With three decades of experience in the industry, Parker knows how to pivot and grow in order to keep pace with the ever-evolving nature of senior living. And with that knowledge and expertise, he\u2019s reached innovative new heights during his time at Commonwealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his thorough interview with SHN as part of the Changemakers series<\/a>, Parker shares how he\u2019s leading important changes at Commonwealth today, and explains why he believes driving continuous improvement across their communities is essential.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SHN: Do you see yourself as a changemaker, and are you always excited to drive change?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parker: My first response was, no, I don\u2019t see myself as that. My first reaction to that word, changemaker, is probably a dramatic, earth-shattering kind of change.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as I gave more thought to it, I could see it. My first mentor when I started working in hotels was a GM who I\u2019m still in touch with, and they introduced me to the concept of continuous quality improvement and it\u2019s been a key part of my life \u2014 work and personal \u2014 ever since then.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s really a consistent leadership mindset that I have and try to bring to the organization, but it\u2019s really continually focused on how we can try to make our communities a better place to live and a better place to work. I try to spend a lot of my time digging in on that, and I believe that if we can stay focused on that as an organization, that we can\u2019t help but be successful.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a little bit of change every day, and ultimately that does create change. I certainly have changed a lot over the last 20-plus years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SHN: As you look across the rest of the senior living industry, do you think that it\u2019s changing fast enough to keep up with the times?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parker: I may seem like a contrarian based on what a lot of I read other people saying, but I think it is. I think the industry evolves along with the demand. The markets that we\u2019re in especially, we\u2019re regularly engaging our residents, their families, associates, prospects, and getting feedback.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been here at Commonwealth for 10 years, and there are many things that we\u2019ve changed over the last 10 years: Dining, programming, physical plants, we\u2019ve added hydroponic gardening, we\u2019ve got a farm-to-table dining program, we\u2019re using virtual reality with seniors. We\u2019ve got robust Wi-Fi in all of our communities for residents and families to take part of. We have quartz countertops and stainless steel appliances.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we have adapted and changed a lot over the last 10 years, and I think we\u2019ll have to continue to do it. I\u2019m not really sure what\u2019s going on in San Francisco, or L.A., or New York City, but I think in the areas that we operate, we\u2019ve changed a lot over the last 10 years, and I think we\u2019ve got a product that\u2019s appealing to the seniors and their adult children that are here today.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve all got to be responsible to continue to look at and monitor and evaluate where we think that demand is coming from in the future. As an industry, we\u2019ve adapted pretty well. You could say the overall product looks and feels like it did 25 years ago, and the fact that we have apartments, and we provide care, and we provide dining, but I think the way that we do those things has changed dramatically. Again, I think it will continue to change as we go forward, but I think we\u2019re doing a pretty good job.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about Earl Parker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To continue with his story and insights, read Earl Parker\u2019s full interview with SHN<\/a>. If you\u2019d like to chat with us about how we support clients like Commonwealth with our dynamic solutions in the Yardi Senior Living Suite<\/a>, don\u2019t hesitate to reach out anytime<\/a>!  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve been following this year\u2019s Changemakers series, sponsored by us and presented by Senior Housing News (SHN), you\u2019ve seen the range of inspiring honorees recognized so far. Each leader has been selected based on their ability to spark innovation, drive positive change and strategize ways to make the senior living industry a better place. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":782,"featured_media":36321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2952],"tags":[842],"class_list":["post-36320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senior-living","tag-senior-living"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYardi Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"See how Changemaker Earl Parker is driving positive change in senior living in this 2023 series by Yardi and Senior Housing News.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Honoring Earl Parker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"See how Changemaker Earl Parker is driving positive change in senior living in this 2023 series by Yardi and Senior Housing News.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yardi Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-20T10:36:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-22T23:34:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/07\/SL-2023-Changemaker-Earl-Parker-Commonwealth-Blog-Post_20648.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Natalie Mahn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natalie Mahn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/\",\"name\":\"Changemaker Earl Parker - Yardi Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/07\/SL-2023-Changemaker-Earl-Parker-Commonwealth-Blog-Post_20648.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-20T10:36:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-22T23:34:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce3207494d1a0adc1d7955229163f1\"},\"description\":\"See how Changemaker Earl Parker is driving positive change in senior living in this 2023 series by Yardi and Senior Housing News.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/07\/SL-2023-Changemaker-Earl-Parker-Commonwealth-Blog-Post_20648.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/07\/SL-2023-Changemaker-Earl-Parker-Commonwealth-Blog-Post_20648.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1280},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Honoring Earl Parker\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Yardi Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce3207494d1a0adc1d7955229163f1\",\"name\":\"Natalie Mahn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/Natalie-Mahn-headshot.jpg?w=96\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/Natalie-Mahn-headshot.jpg?w=96\",\"caption\":\"Natalie Mahn\"},\"description\":\"Natalie Mahn is a senior marketing writer at Yardi. You'll find her writing for the REACH by RentCafe team, where she loves putting her creativity and agency experience to the test. Natalie is based in Thousand Oaks, California.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nataliemahn\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/author\/natalie-mahn\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yardi Blog","description":"See how Changemaker Earl Parker is driving positive change in senior living in this 2023 series by Yardi and Senior Housing News.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Honoring Earl Parker","og_description":"See how Changemaker Earl Parker is driving positive change in senior living in this 2023 series by Yardi and Senior Housing News.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/","og_site_name":"Yardi Blog","article_published_time":"2023-07-20T10:36:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-22T23:34:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1280,"url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/07\/SL-2023-Changemaker-Earl-Parker-Commonwealth-Blog-Post_20648.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Natalie Mahn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Natalie Mahn","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/","name":"Changemaker Earl Parker - Yardi Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/07\/SL-2023-Changemaker-Earl-Parker-Commonwealth-Blog-Post_20648.jpg","datePublished":"2023-07-20T10:36:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:34:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce3207494d1a0adc1d7955229163f1"},"description":"See how Changemaker Earl Parker is driving positive change in senior living in this 2023 series by Yardi and Senior Housing News.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/07\/SL-2023-Changemaker-Earl-Parker-Commonwealth-Blog-Post_20648.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/07\/SL-2023-Changemaker-Earl-Parker-Commonwealth-Blog-Post_20648.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/changemaker-earl-parker\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Honoring Earl Parker"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/","name":"Yardi Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce3207494d1a0adc1d7955229163f1","name":"Natalie Mahn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/Natalie-Mahn-headshot.jpg?w=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/02\/Natalie-Mahn-headshot.jpg?w=96","caption":"Natalie Mahn"},"description":"Natalie Mahn is a senior marketing writer at Yardi. You'll find her writing for the REACH by RentCafe team, where she loves putting her creativity and agency experience to the test. Natalie is based in Thousand Oaks, California.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nataliemahn\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/author\/natalie-mahn\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/07\/SL-2023-Changemaker-Earl-Parker-Commonwealth-Blog-Post_20648.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/782"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36322,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36320\/revisions\/36322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}