Robert Phillips is on the faculty of the University of San Diego's School of Business Administration where he holds a joint appointment between the Social/Legal and Management faculty areas. He has taught on the faculties of Georgetown University (McDonough School) and the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School) and the University of Virginia (Darden and McIntire Schools).

He received his Ph.D. from The Darden School at the University of Virginia and also holds an MBA and a BSBA. His primary research focus is in the areas of organizational stakeholders and ethics.He is author of Stakeholder Theory and Organizational Ethics (Berrett-Koehler Publishers).