Phil Jacobs

Phil Jacobs is a founding Partner in The Pendleton Consulting Group and a Senior Consultant for Coxe Curry and Associates.

Prior to joining Pendleton and Coxe Curry, Phil served in numerous leadership positions over a 34-year career at BellSouth and AT&T. He led operations, sales and marketing functions, including the company’s business systems division, and was named Chief Operating Officer of Optus Communications, a $3 billion local, long distance and wireless firm headquartered in Sydney, Australia, which was partially owned by BellSouth. In 1998, Phil was named President of BellSouth’s Georgia Operations and was named President of Business Communications Services of AT&T-Southeast following AT&T’s acquisition of BellSouth. Georgia Trend magazine named Phil the Most Respected CEO in Georgia in 2005.

Since his retirement in 2007, Phil has been active in Economic Development, Healthcare, and Education. He was appointed to the State’s Board of Economic Development, serving as its Chairman for three years, as well as Georgia’s Professional Standards Commission. He has also served as board member and chairman of CDC Foundation and Atlanta’s Teach for America Board.

He currently serves on the Boards of the Emory Global Health Institute; the Georgia Aquarium; Cognia; the Georgia Chamber of Commerce; the Woodruff Arts Center; the East Lake Foundation; the Georgia Historical Society, and is a member of the downtown Atlanta Rotary Club.

In 2008, at the request of the State School Board, he served as co-Chair of The Committee for School Board Excellence, addressing the issue of governance practices in the State’s 181 School Systems.

He has served on the Boards of United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, The Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, the High Museum of Art, the Georgia Health Sciences Foundation of the Medical College of Georgia, the Tour de Georgia Foundation, the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications Technologies, The Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Smart Start Georgia, the Governor’s Task Force on Tourism, and as Honorary Chairman for the 1998-2001 Empty Stocking Fund Campaigns as well as the 1999-2001 UNCF Corporate Campaign Chair. Phil also served on the founding Board of the Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement (GLISI).

In December of 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and (CDC) Prevention in Atlanta dedicated the “Phil S Jacobs Distance Learning Conference Center” in recognition of Phil’s efforts in working with the U. S. Congress to improve building and facilities funding for the CDC.

Phil is Chairman of the Board of Atlanta Brewing/Red Brick Beer Company.

A native of Washington, D.C., Phil is a Graduate of the Landon School and received his undergraduate degree from Denison University located in Granville, Ohio.

Phil and his wife Jenny live in Atlanta and have three grown children and six grandchildren.