Phil graduated from ANU Forestry in 1981 and Monash University in 1994, and he spent the first three years working for CSIRO on genetics and seed collection programs in Traralgon and Canberra.

For the next 17 years he worked for APM Forests (aka APMF, Amcor Plantations, Australian Paper Plantations), for about a decade in nurseries and research and then eight years in plantation operations.

After APMF was purchased by Hancock Victorian Plantations (HVP) in 2001, and initially known as Grand Ridge Plantations, Phil was Gippsland Plantation Manager for 11 years.

He then moved to Melbourne for six years as HVP's Environment and Certification Manager and he is still (in 2019) in that role although he moved back to Gippsland in 2018.