Backed by a wealth of professional experience in health care services, Heather V. Parker is renowned as an experienced wellness coordinator with a demonstrated history of working in the education management industry. She is skilled in prevention, team building, nutrition, health promotion and leadership development. Since 2014, Ms. Parker has excelled as the wellness coordinator at the School District of Lee County in Florida in an effort to bring positive and healthy lifestyles to employees. Her job responsibilities include securing funding for programs related to health and wellness, and setting up and coordinating all the programs with employees and teachers to teach programs for her.
Ms. Parker also ensures the programs that she selects have a “return on investment” (ROI), calculating and producing the best ROI for her school district. Collectively, she has saved the district over $120 million over the last five years. She enjoys reflecting on the many calls she and the district have received, asking her how she does her job so well. Outside of her regular duties, Ms. Parker presents annually at the School District Employee Wellness Group (SDEWG), where she is able to connect with people in other districts working in the same profession. Her main goal is to help people reverse their diseases rather than simply manage them through capturing data, also helping businesses to do so.
Dedicated to achieving the proper education to match her career goals, Ms. Parker obtained a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology and exercise science from Spring Arbor University in Michigan in 2006, from which she also received a volleyball scholarship. Subsequently, she worked at Lee Memorial Health Systems as an exercise specialist and supervisor from 2006 to 2014. In 2010, Ms. Parker became registered as a nutritionist consultant and certified as a wellness practitioner. Later, in 2017, she was re-certified as a wellness practitioner.
Outside of her primary responsibilities, Ms. Parker dedicates her time and resources to the American Heart Association, Healthy Lee, the Million Mile Movement and the Horizon Council. An overweight child growing up, she was greatly inspired by her encouraging grandfather, Robert King, who would take her to the gym and never tell her that she was overweight. Ms. Parker attributes her late grandfather’s positive reinforcements for leading her into her profession, as she wanted to do for others in need what her grandfather was able to do for her.
For her service and passion for her work, Ms. Parker was the recipient of the Platinum Award and Fit Friendly Company Award from the American Heart Association from 2009 to 2017, and was recognized for a Blue Zone Approved Worksite in 2019. She also accepted the Florida Healthy School District Silver Award from the Florida Association of School Districts.
Looking toward the future, Ms. Parker hopes to find success in an administrative role within the aforementioned school district while pursuing more consulting work with outside companies. She attributes her success to caring for the individual. getting to know people, and figuring out where they are on their journey and being able to relate to them. Ms. Parker believes that care is the best way to enforce positive changes. She has taken that wisdom and utilized it throughout her career, always showing initiative to move up the ranks. Moreover, she does her best to stay in touch with her mentors.
