Tim Phillips

Tim Phillips is the founder and CEO of Beyond Conflict, a non-profit organization that works with civic, non-profit and community leaders to address conflict and promote social change in the United States and abroad. Since 1992, Beyond Conflict has created powerful and innovative frameworks to open pathways for progress in peace talks, transitions to democracy, and national reconciliation in the aftermath of division and violence in over 75 countries. Tim led efforts to catalyze the peace and reconciliation processes in several nations, including Northern Ireland, El Salvador, and South Africa. He has also advised the United Nations, the U.S. Department of State, and the Council of Europe.
In recent years, Tim has led Beyond Conflict’s efforts to explore the fields of brain and behavioral science in depth. The organization has become widely acknowledged as the champion in catalyzing the field of Neuroscience and Social Conflict, by promoting this research, developing policy recommendations for national leaders, and convening six global conferences for key scientists, policymakers, practitioners, journalists and funders. This work is done in Beyond Conflict’s Innovation Lab for Neuroscience and Social Conflict, a research and development unit within the organization. Beyond Conflict has also been working with scientists and community leaders to apply lessons from brain and behavioral sciences to address a range of challenges, such as: racial justice and inclusion, conflict resolution and reconciliation, and other efforts to promote positive social change.

In the private sector, Tim was a founder of Energia Global International Ltd. (EGI), which was a leader in the development and operation of privately owned renewable energy facilities in Central and South America in the early 1990s. Early in his career, Mr. Phillips worked internationally in support of human rights and the environment. In the late 1980s, he organized a series of independent fact-finding missions to Central America for U.S. policymakers, news editors and congressional staff to introduce them to the key players across the political spectrum in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, and to support the work of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who later won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to Central America. In 1989, Mr. Phillips developed and organized a seminar at Harvard University for leading journalists that introduced them to the concept of global warming, one of the first initiatives to bring this urgent issue to the attention of the national media.

Tim serves on the board of directors, trustees and overseers of numerous international organizations and cultural and educational institutions, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Rose Art Museum, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and the Foundation for a Civil Society. Mr. Phillips was educated at Suffolk University and the London School of Economics.