Dr. Rob Phillips
Dr. Rob Phillips has taught at universities from Virginia to China throughout the course of his career. Having grown up in Asheville, N.C., he received his doctorate from the University of Virginia in 1997 before going on to teach at Georgetown University, University of Pennsylvania, University of San Diego and Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Shanghai, China, before coming to the University of Richmond. He had planned to stay at Richmond for only a year to be closer to home and scholarly coauthors, but as he said, “during that year I grew to like my new colleagues and students at Richmond very much and gave up my tenured position in San Diego to stay here.”
As instructor of the MBA course “The Ethical, Social and Legal Responsibilities of Business,” Phillips was at first surprised by the energy he had when he left class at the end of the night. “I soon realized that I had more energy leaving class than I had coming in. Enthusiasm can feed on itself, and I feel that the students and I create a positive reinforcement loop,” he said.
This feeling is echoed by his students, including George Kite, VP and CFO at Call Federal Credit Union, who said, “Dr. Phillips’ ethics course was one of the highlights of my curriculum experience. He did an excellent job of facilitating meaningful conversations around current events and case studies in an effort to challenge our thinking and expose us to new ideas while focusing on students’ viewpoints instead of driving classroom debate with personal opinions.”
Melissa Sorbello, VP/Director of Retail Bank IT Portfolio and Delivery Management at Capital One, added, “I had the pleasure of taking Dr. Phillips' ethics course and found his level of enthusiasm about the subject matter, his ability to drive thought-provoking and provocative discussion and his eagerness to test the boundaries of his students' principles to be unparalleled. I left each class wanting more; more group discussion, more challenging issues, more edging out of my comfort zone.”
Along with his teaching, Phillips has numerous pieces of published research, including pieces on business ethics, stakeholder management and influence and organizational value. Some of his most recent scholarship can be found in The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management, Business Ethics Quarterly and the International Journal of Management Reviews. He has collaborated on research with several Richmond colleagues including Assistant Professor of Management Judith Schrempf and Associate Professor of Management Doug Bosse.
“Richmond and the MBA program share a sense of community that would be easy to take for granted if you have never been to a larger, less close-knit environment. Most members of The Richmond MBA community seem genuinely pleased to be here,” he said. “The class size allows our students greater opportunities for mutual engagement with faculty and one another.”
Students also see this as a community, as Sorbello remembers an assignment that turned into an impromptu class gathering. “As was the custom with my very close-knit class, we organized a night to all watch the assigned movie together. To our surprise, Dr. Phillips joined us to watch and comment real-time on the movie. It was yet another shining example of how The Richmond MBA attracts the best and the brightest, focused on the learning of the students both inside and outside of the classroom.”
Phillips’ is currently working on forthcoming research exploring corporate social responsibility and preparing for the close of another academic year. When asked what he would tell prospective MBA candidates, he said, “Look for an engaged faculty who want to see you succeed and peers who will both support you and push you outside of your comfort zone. It’s all about the people.” His past and current students are sure to agree he is one of those faculty members with whom this holds true.