Phillip is a former Foreign Service Officer. He served as head of Educational Information and Resources at the State Department, Cultural Affairs Officer in the Philippines, Public Affairs Officer in Latvia, Angola and Somalia, ACAO/Executive Director of the Alianza Cultural in Uruguay and AIO in Lima, Peru. Fluent in Spanish with a good knowledge of Portuguese and Latvian, Phillip joined Meridian International Center as a Program Officer from the American Institute for Foreign Study where he was Vice President of Government and Academic Relations. Earlier in his career, he was the Director of the Office of International Services at the University of South Carolina, and Associate Director of International Programs at the University of Pennsylvania. Phillip studied Higher Education Administration at the doctoral level at the University of Pennsylvania, and has master’s degrees in Resourcing National Security (National Defense University), Teaching English as a Second Language (Temple University), and College Student Personnel (Michigan State University).