Rob Phillips Recognized as a Nominee for the 2023 OCBJ Innovator of the Year Award

We are pleased to announce that Rob Phillips, CEO and President of Phillips Industries, CEO and Founder of Phillips Connect and Phillips Innovations has been nominated for the ninth annual Innovator of the Year Award presented by the Orange County Business Journal (OCBJ).

The Innovator of the Year Awards are designed to honor, recognize and celebrate individuals and their organizations who are creating game-changing products and services, and demonstrate brilliance and leadership in innovation.

“I am beyond humbled and honored to be nominated along with such impressive business leaders in Orange County,” said Phillips. “We are driven and focused on making huge game-changing improvements to transportation, and this recognition validates our commitment to our work. Our entire team lives in a world that doesn’t understand the word ‘impossible,’ and we thrive on the excitement that comes from success. We will continue to push boundaries, and manufacture cutting-edge technologies that make a real difference in transportation.”

The Nomination:

Rob Phillips is the 4th generation CEO of Phillips Industries, the world’s largest supplier of commercial truck and trailer electric harness systems.  Since Rob joined the family business in 1995, he has led large-scale expansion projects– stretching the company’s reach from a North American supplier to a global manufacturer, with more than 2,300 employees and facilities in USA, Canada, Mexico, Poland, China, and Vietnam.  Five years ago, Phillips saw an opportunity to expand his 90-year old business from a hardware supplier to a leading technology and software company by launching a new business called Phillips Connect.  The company created an entire industry around what they refer to as smart-trailers by enabling edge-computing sensors and cameras to its telematics gateways.  In just over two years of shipping its first products, the company has already delivered more than 200,000 smart-trailer systems and more than 1,000,000 sensors to trucking companies across North America.  Phillips Connect is the fastest growing telematics company in North America today, and is on track to save its customer base well over $1 billion in efficiencies and cost-avoidances over the life of their vehicles.   Rob is always pushing the boundaries, and just recently launched a new business called Phillips Innovations, which brings an elevated level of safety, sustainability, driver comfort and automation to the industry through R&D investments in solar, backup camera technologies, and autonomous driving solutions for trucks and trailers. Phillips Innovations is Rob’s third company, and he has more plans to expand in the coming year.

Award winners will be announced at the Innovator of the Year Awards celebration on September 7, 2023, at the Irvine Marriott. To learn more about the awards and past winners, or to register for the event, please visit the OCBJs website at ocbj.com/events/2023-innovator-of-the-year-awards/

Click here to read more about the 2023 nominees. (OCBJ subscription required)