Kenn Phillips has been with the Valley Economic Alliance for 16 years working primarily behind the scenes for the Sherman Oaks organization. In October, the 56-year old Thousand Oaks resident was named chief executive, giving him a higher profile at the non-profit that seeks to attract and retain businesses in its five member cities - Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale, San Fernando and Calabasas. A native of Kansas, Phillips had a nomadic childhood with a father who traveled the country for work in the computer industry. He settled in Southern California by his high school years and later attended UCLA. He went to work for aerospace giant Boeing Co. in the San Fernando Valley and his work there in community relations caught the attention of the Alliance's then chief, Bill Allen, who brought Phillips on board in 1999. Phillips took time to talk with the Business Journal about his career, his business philosophy, the Alliance's role in the Valley business community and the lasting influence of a high school soccer coach.

Photo by David Sprague   

Question: What motivates you?

Answer: Helping the community; providing value for the community. It always has.

Why is that?

It's great to see when you bring leaders together with a common interest in getting things solved right now.

Can you give an example of that?

We spent three months going out and visiting with many of the leaders in the Valley. There were about 100. What I want to know is what their passion is. If they were king for a day, if they could do anything, what would that one thing be? We learned a lot of things. Most of it was education related. We heard transportation types of issues. What we found was many times they want to go ahead and be part of that even if it's short term.

What would you address if king for a day?

My number one passion is environmental education. More specifically, if I could I would change the way education is delivered. In elementary school we love school. Somehow we start liking it less and less. It's lecture time, you sit down, shut up and have a test on Friday. We have to change that model. We've got to change it to what you are doing in the community is everything you embrace in the classroom.

How has your career in aerospace informed what you do now?

What it taught me was that I could translate. Many times you ask an engineer for the time and they will tell you how a watch works. I could take many different areas of operations and engineering and put presentations together. I could have a better understanding of the probability of getting work done and a better understanding of what new work would cost and how much work that would take. I was naturally good at that.

How did you get into aerospace?

I was working at UCLA when a friend of mine suggested I could go to work in fast food or in aerospace. Aerospace paid better. I started at (military electronics manufacturer) Bunko Ramo Corp. (in Westlake Village). They were involved in aerospace contracts. They brought me in for a temp job. I was doing inventory control for the tooling department. I reorganized their entire tooling system.

How did you come to work at Boeing?

I already had four years working in aerospace and they were ramping up for the Space Shuttle. That's how they hired me. If you had a degree, they wanted to hire you. It was helpful that I had the mathematics and aerospace background.

What else did you do at Boeing?

Later I was doing a lot of community service. The communications department asked me to come, so I was their communications manager for a few years before I came here.

How did you come to the Alliance?

The Alliance was doing an education summit. This was 16 years ago. They were looking at what private industry was doing in education. Boeing was recognized for a program to create a diverse workforce. I created the program; I was the idea guy, the coordinator guy. That brought me to (then Alliance Chief Executive) Bill Allen's attention. Bill made me an offer and we came up with terms. I came to the Alliance at the end of October (1999).

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