Editor's Roundup
USDA people in the news

Randy Phillips was selected as the deputy chief for programs and legislation in the Forest Service. He succeeded Ron Stewart, who served in that position from August 1997 until he retired in December 1999, following over 30 years of service with FS.

From January 1997 until his selection, Phillips served as the budget coordinator for FS’s National Forest System, at the agency’s headquarters office in Washington, DC. He was based in Asheville, N.C., as the forest supervisor for the four national forests in North Carolina--the Croatan, Nantahala, Pisgah, and Uwharrie National Forests--from 1993-97. During that period he chaired the Southern Appalachian Man in the Biosphere program, a consortium of 13 federal and state agencies that work together for sustainable management of natural resources in the southern Appalachian area of the country. In addition, during 1996 he chaired the Natural Resources Leadership Institute, based at North Carolina State University, which helps train individuals to find solutions to environmentally-oriented concerns in their local communities. He served as deputy forest supervisor, based in Asheville, from 1990-93.

Phillips was an assistant to the regional forester in the agency’s Northern Region, based in Missoula, Mont., from 1988-90, where he managed the region’s Appeals and Litigation Program. From 1985-88 he worked as a district ranger on the Pike National Forest, based in Denver, after having worked from 1983-85 as a district ranger on the Pawnee National Grassland, based in Greeley, Colo. He worked as a forester in Idaho Springs, Colo., on the Arapaho National Forest from 1981-83. He began his career with FS in Greenville, Calif., as a forester on the Plumas National Forest in 1978.

A native of Lakeland, Fla., Phillips holds a B.S. degree in forest resource management from the University of Montana and a B.A. degree in political science from Florida State University.