Phillip Wallace is a “data guy” who is not passionate about data, but about what data can do – like help people make better decisions, close equity gaps, and align work to strategic goals. As Director of Knowledge Management in the Institute for Capacity Building at UNCF, Phillip partners with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in shaping data strategy, providing actionable insights, and cultivating data fluency to accelerate organizational health and student success transformation. With over 17 years of experience providing insights to inform decision-making and leading data teams in higher ed, he is convinced of three things:  

1. The whole point of our obsession with data is to make better decisions.
2. The work to strengthen data strategy and culture is like leg day at the gym – cut corners at your own risk.
3. It must never be forgotten that data are from, for, and about people.  

Before coming to UNCF, Phillip served as Manager of Data Analysis in system-wide HR at the California State University Chancellor’s Office, where he developed and implemented a strategy to automate manual reporting, propagate actionable deliverables, and elevate the team’s analytics maturity. As Senior Research Analyst in Strategic Planning and Institutional Research at Biola University, he collaborated with stakeholders across all functional areas to produce insights for decision making, inform and monitor progress towards strategic plan goals, and lead data governance efforts.