Phil, a native Mississippian, lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Georgia. He is an award-winning business columnist and semi-retired economic developer. He served as an adjunct faculty member at the Millsaps College Else School of Management for many years and served as Director of ELSEWorks Business Analysts. He also taught Business Strategy in the Business Advantage Program.
He has taught over 1,000 students, written over 800 articles and columns, written 11 books, and assisted over 100 communities and organizations with strategic planning. In February 2016, he was inducted as a Lifetime Member of the Mississippi Economic Development Council.
His previous positions include Coordinator of Capacity Development at the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, Mississippi State University, Vice President of Community and Economic Development at Mississippi Valley Gas Company (now Atmos Energy), Director of Economic Development for the City of Jackson, Mississippi and Executive Director of the Mississippi Real Estate Commission.
He is a Past-President of the Mississippi Association of Partners in Education, the Mississippi Main Street Association, the Mississippi Economic Development Council, and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
He received his undergraduate degree from Belhaven University and his MBA from Millsaps College. He is also a graduate of the Senior Executives in State & Local Government executive program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. During his military service, he was Security Team Leader for Army One, the Presidential helicopter.