Phil started his career in 1975 in Montague, with the Department of Social Services, and in 1978 he received a Masters of Social Work degree from Carlton University.  In 1994 he became the Director of Primary Care for Queens Health Region in Charlottetown, overseeing 7 or 8 areas including PH Nursing, Housing, Dental, Diabetes and others.  In 2000 Phil became the CEO of Chances, a support program for parents and infants, mostly for disadvantaged mothers, where he rolled out the program across the province. 

Phil retired (his first retirement) in 2005, only to come out of retirement in January of 2006 to become the CEO of the Transition House Association which mostly involved funding of Anderson House and satellite family violence prevention services.  In 2012 the Transition House Association became PEI Family Violence Prevention Services and Phil oversaw a campaign to renovate Anderson House as well as expansion of services across the province.  In 2017 Family Violence Prevention Services began a Capital Campaign which successfully raised over one million dollars.

Phil made his second attempt to retire in 2017, but it was short lived as he was approached to take on the Administrator position at Atlantic Baptist nursing home, on a temporary basis until a new administrator could be installed. Happily, an administrator was appointed and Phil is once again retired – we will see if it sticks this time.

As a social worker, Phil worked to provide assistance to families and individuals, young and old, who were having difficult times in their lives.  As Director of Primary Care, Phil was fully engaged with all of the related divisions and helped to bring about improvements in all of those programs. He brought about improvements and expansion of Chances and the PEI Family Violence Prevention Services.  As registrar of Social Work PEI, his primary role is on registration of Social Workers, and protection of the public through establishing and monitoring regulations and guidelines on ethics, continuing education of providers, handling complaints of clients, etc. 

Through his vocation Phil has served the public exceptionally well in a quiet, unassuming way with many of those who benefited from his work not knowing where the help really came from.  His dedication, his empathy towards others, his skills as an administrator and his public service make Phil a worthy recipient of the Harry MacLauchlan Award for Vocational Excellence.