Leadership Lessons: Cecil Phillips
- Age: 59
- First Job: Mowing lawns at age 10
- Ideal leader: Someone with the character of Harry Truman, the steadfastness of Abraham Lincoln, the eloquence of Churchill, and the humility of Mother Teresa.
- Favorite quote: “What would you do if you knew you would not fail?”
- Best business decision: To grow the company from an entrepreneurship.
- Greatest challenge: Managing the company without losing the culture of risk taking.
- Favorite office decoration: A giant-sized globe, which his wife gave him after he traveled the world. He frequently scrolls to Australia to check on his daughter who lives there.
Beyond Bricks
Place transforms college campuses.
Place Properties doesn’t just provide students with a place to live; the student housing firm has also breathed new life into campuses. Take Kennesaw State University, a small school in Kennesaw, Ga. With no on-campus housing, it was primarily a commuter school until Place Properties entered the scene. In 2002, Place established a partnership with the school and its foundation to build two communities (nearly 1,580 beds), including a building just for freshman. Now students can get the full college experience.
Similarly, Place’s fresh on-campus housing has helped revive the student life at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “Place has transformed the school into a campus that has energy and vibrancy all the time,” says John R. Anderson, vice chair of the University of Chattanooga Foundation and the Campus Development Foundation. In fact, the school’s social scene has shifted to the south side of campus, where the new student housing properties are located.
Place also helped dramatically change the landscape at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Ga. ABAC Place, an 835-bed property built in 2004, replaced outdated 30- and 40-year-old housing structures. The property–which has a wait list of 200 students–has helped increase student enrollment and ultimately enabled the two-year college to offer select four-year programs, says Melvin Merrill, director of development for the college and president and CEO of the ABAC Foundation. “Place has been responsible for truly raising the bar for everything we have done here,” he says.