Maryland Seafood Pioneer CEO To Receive Esteemed Governor's Award

Online, January 19, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The World Trade Center Institute (WTCI) is pleased to announce that Steve Phillips, President and CEO of Phillips Foods, has been selected as the recipient of Maryland's 2011 Governor's International Leadership Award. Mr. Phillips will be recognized at Maryland's prominent celebration held Thursday, March 10, 2011 at the Jim Rouse Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore, just blocks away from the company's headquarters.

The Governor's International Leadership Award, the highest honor given in the Maryland business community, recognizes decades of exemplary global leadership. The winners consistently demonstrate creativity and innovative strategies to drive industry leadership and world-class results while positively impacting Maryland's place on the global stage.

According to Governor Martin O'Malley, "For more than 50 years, the name Phillips has meant something quite special here in Maryland. Today with Phillips' impressive global footprint, it is an honor to award Steve Phillips with the 2011 Governor's International Leadership Award. Long before international trade was the norm, Steve was a pioneer in Asia developing crab facilities to supplement the U.S. supply, providing jobs for thousands of Marylanders in manufacturing, hospitality/restaurants, and headquarter operations."

One winner is selected annually, and this year Phillips will join the ranks of prior Governor's International Leadership Award winners including Jim Perdue, (President, Perdue), J.W. Marriott Jr., (Chairman & CEO Mariott Int'l), Chip Mason (Chairman & CEO,Legg Mason), and Helen Bentley (President, Bentley & Associates).

Steve Phillips' family has been in the seafood industry for nearly 100 years, since the establishment of the AE Phillips & Son seafood processing plant on the Chesapeake Bay in 1914. Steve's parents Brice and Shirley Phillips founded the family's first restaurant location in Ocean City, Maryland in 1956, and Steve played an instrumental role in the company's expansion, spearheading the opening of the waterfront location in Baltimore's Inner Harbor over 30 years ago. Today, the Phillips Seafood Restaurants brand is recognized nationwide as a favorite destination for Maryland-style cuisine.

Phillips' drive to grow the company led to the formation of Phillips Foods, Inc. in 1990. Faced with diminishing yields of crab from the Chesapeake Bay, Steve sought a new global source of crab. Steve is credited with establishing the blue swimming crab industry across Southeast Asia; the company currently operates 17 crab processing plants across 9 Asian countries. The overseas processing facilities ensure a dependable year-round source of crab for Steve's own restaurants, as well as thousands of restaurants and grocery stores across the country through the company's retail and foodservice divisions. Steve's roots remain in Maryland; headquartered in downtown Baltimore, Phillips' global manufacturing facility provides hundreds of jobs within the local community.

In addition to producing award-winning crab cakes, Phillips also leads the way in crab sustainability. Through Steve's direction, sustainability and aquaculture have become part of the company mission. His efforts have resulted in a major multi-company collaborative effort to improve crab fisheries in Asia The company has initiated a global program to reduce energy and water use and minimize processing waste, and pushed for the formation of an association of "Seafood Sustainability Directors" to coordinate broader industry efforts in the United States.

Steve Phillips holds a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Miami, Florida, and now serves on the board for the National Fisheries Institute, World Trade Center Institute, and the University of Maryland Medical Systems Hospital.

""I am honored and humbled to be recognized for my work in the global seafood industry, which is truly my passion," states Steve Phillips.

About the International Leadership Awards Event:
Date: March 10, 2011 Time: 5:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Location: Jim Rouse Visionary Center, a part of the American Visionary Arts Museum,
800 Key Highway, Baltimore, MD 21230
Refreshments/International Buffet and Music Celebration
Visit wtci.org for tickets and details