Born and raised in Austin, Phillip started working in politics in 2003. After working in the State Legislature for two years, Phillip was hired to be the Chief of Staff for State Representative Garnet F. Coleman. Following the 2007 legislative session, he left Austin to pursue a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. While in graduate school, Phillip focused his studies on the interactive roles of press, politics, and communications. Phillip moved back to Austin in 2009 and went to work as Communications Specialist for the Texas Democratic Trust, assisting in communications strategy and development for statewide and local campaigns.
During the 82nd legislative session, Phillip served as Policy Director for the Texas Legislative Study Group. Phillip led a team of ten policy analysts in evaluating every bill that came to the floor of the Texas House and completing projects such as Texas on the Brink. Over the last six years, Phillip has also been a writer and contributor for the popular Texas political blog, Burnt Orange Report.
In addition to joining Progress Texas, Phillip joins the Texas Research Institute as its Research and Policy Director. I am honored to be working with Phillip and proud the best person for the job is a native Texan, proud Astros fan, loyal Longhorn and a progressive leader. I look forward to announcing future additions to the Progress Texas team.
Sincerely,
Matt Glazer
Executive Director
P.S. Thank you so much for helping making this happen. Phillip, Mark and I are all proud be working for you and helping build a progressive movement.