Parran Foster

Parran L. Foster III graduated from Johnson C. Smith University with a B.S. in Biology and went on to enter an accelerated doctoral program at Temple University during which he taught biology and science in Camden, N.J. In August of 1974, he left Temple and joined Marion Laboratories as the first black pharmaceutical sales representative in eastern N.C. He held various positions in sales and R&D over the next 18 years in N.C and Washington, D.C. before leaving in 1993 to found Phoenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the first minority owned pharmaceutical sales and marketing company in the U.S. in 1996 he established the Phoenix Scholarship Foundation which generated over a million dollar in scholarships for minority students from his profits. Phoenix enjoyed a successful partnership with Parke-Davis, Warner Lambert until the takeover of P-D by Pfizer in 2002. Parran joined the Board of Trustees of Johnson C. Smith in 2000 and served as Chairman of the Board from 2005 until 2013. He remains a member of the board today.