William H. Phillips · 2013 Honoree

As a young man just out of high school in Orlando, Florida, Bill Phillips joined the Christian Brothers, a religious order founded in France in the sixteenth century with the purpose of educating impoverished boys. After five years he left the brotherhood and the life of a close-knit spiritual community for college and a career in politics, banking and financial management. But he still lives as much as possible by the Rule that defines such life: “Do good, avoid evil, be a good neighbor.”  

Returning to Florida after college, Bill landed in the trust department of a small bank and began honing the financial expertise and the community involvement that have become defining traits of his varied career. As a member of the Orlando Jaycees he became involved in civic activities and soon found himself on the Board of Zoning Adjustment for the city of Orlando coping with the huge legal and political issues that emerged in the wake of the creation of Disney World. As a volunteer for Lawton Chiles in his first race for the Senate, Bill saw a lot of the state and learned about the nuts and bolts of local politics. He then went to work for a bank in Birmingham, Alabama where, at a time of racial turmoil in the mid-1970s, he was part of a small bi-racial committee created by the Chamber of Commerce that helped resolve a racial incident. 

Bill came to Washington in 1987 to serve as staff director for a Subcommittee of the House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs. A few years later he was asked to create an endowment fund at his church, St. Peter’s, and that work refocused his attention on this community. In 1992 he was married at St. Peter’s to Monica Sullivan, an editor at National Journal, and bought the house across from Garfield Park where they live today. It just seemed natural to start picking up trash as he walked his dog there and before long Bill had created the Friends of Garfield Park, a charitable organization, of which he continues to be the president and treasurer. Two years ago he was asked if he would create and manage an endowment fund for the benefit of Capitol Hill Village; he is today the manager of that fund. He is the secretary of the board of the Capitol Hill Community Foundation. And between 2009 and 2011 he worked to promote a good climate for business here as president of the two hundred member Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals.

Since 2002 Bill has run his own trust and investment firm, working from his home with 42 clients. He maintains contact with the LaSallian order that had such a profound impact on him as a young man as the chairman of the investment committee that oversees the retirement trust supporting the men whose lives, like his own, have focused less on earning for themselves than on helping others.  

Bill has a son, William, and a daughter, Kate, and four grandsons.