Max Phillips
Iowa State Board of Education Member and Qwest Iowa and South Dakota President
Max Phillips has served as State President for Qwest’s operations in Iowa since August of 2000. September 1, 2008 his duties were expanded to include the operations in South Dakota. During his career with Qwest, he has held various company positions in service, sales, marketing, regulatory affairs and public policy. He will be retiring from Qwest on July 1, 2011, and assuming a new position as Chief Executive Officer of the Perry Lutheran Home, a nursing, assisted living and Alzheimer’s care facility located in Perry, Iowa.
Mr. Phillips has a history of local community involvement and currently serves on a number of boards and committees. In his local community he was elected to three terms as mayor of Bouton, Iowa from 1981 – 1986, and served three terms as President of the Woodward-Granger Community Schools Board of Directors from 1995-2005.
Mr. Phillips has an active interest in educational reform, economic development, community and business issues. In 2005 Iowa Governor Vilsack appointed Mr. Phillips to the Iowa State Board of Education, a seat to which Governor Culver reappointed him in 2007. In 2008, Max was appointed by the Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives to co-chair Iowa’s Institute for Tomorrow’s Workforce. He continues his interest and state leadership in several business related activities including serving on the Wells Fargo Iowa Community Board, the Greater Des Moines Partnership Board of Directors and the Iowa Business Council of which he is past Chair.
Mr. Phillips holds an Executive Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Iowa and is a graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO.
He is actively involved in agricultural and faith pursuits. He is an ordained minister in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and serves as Pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Bouton, IA. He and wife Sherrill live on a farm near Woodward, Iowa, and have three children.