Kevin A. Phillips
Kevin A. Phillips Founder of MyMarineCorpsBall.com joined the Board as one of the Directors in October 2011. After eight years of serving in the Marine Corps, Kevin was medically retired in June 2004 at the rank of Sergeant upon sustaining injuries from a skydiving incident in 2003. Having sustained bi-lateral orthopedic injuries and other traumatic injuries, Sgt Phillips spent five months in a wheelchair and six months on convalescent leave before being Medically Retired four months later.
Throughout his career, Kevin received various personal, Unit and Service Awards, starting with being selected Company Honor man with Plt 1037 Charlie Co 1st Bn. His first duty station (Apr 1997) as Lance Corporal was with Battalion S-1, Headquarters Company, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, CA where he served as an Administrator, Promotions and Awards Clerk and SRB Chief. After his promotion to Corporal and reenlistment thirteen months later, he spent time as a Combat Correspondent, with the Public Affairs Office at MCRDSD, writing articles for the "Chevron" newspaper and volunteered his time with the Base Color Guard and Ceremonial Details. From November 1998 to June 2000, he processed thousands of Recruits while serving in the Recruit Administration Branch (RAB).
Upon receiving orders to Okinawa, Japan and completing Advanced Clerks Course at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Cpl Phllips was assigned to PSD-18, MACG-18 in September 2000. One month later, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and served as the New Joins Chief. Shortly thereafter, he was chosen to streamline the travel section where he and his Marines were responsible for correcting and processing over 2,500 travel claims in just four months. Upon his return from his overseas tour, Sgt Phillips reported to Consolidated Personnel Administration Center, Marine Air Control Group 38, 3rd Air Wing in September 2001. Initially assigned as the Service Record Book Chief for MACG-38, he was selected to become the Quality Control Chief in February 2002.
In September 2002, Sgt Phillips was selected to be the Project Officer for a Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) sanctioned web program called the Automated Standardized Administrative Program (ASAP). ASAP revolutionized how leadership was able to access administrative information on their Marines via a secured web server. Sgt Phillips was responsible for the security, maintenance and development of this program for the First Marine Expeditionary Force. Marines now use most of the technology and functionality originally developed for ASAP in the Marine Corps sanctioned web based program, Marine Online (MOL). Upon his return from convalescent leave, Sgt Phillips was chosen to maintain and develop additional functionality on the 3rd MAW web site until he was then, processed for Medical Retirement.
A few months after his Medical Retirement from the Marine Corps, Mr. Phillips decided to employ his knowledge and started a web development company, KATLogic Inc. Subsequently he combined his understanding of Marine Corps processes and how to automate them in secure web based technologies and created www.MyMarineCorpsBall.com (MyMCB.com). After five years of managing this web application, Kevin realized that he was in need of a multidisciplinary team to assist him with the further development of MyMCB.com and the execution of its mission to benefit Veterans and their families. In 2009, he began the search for military- and veteran-sponsored organizations, seeking support from them to promote his web application in exchange for a portion of the proceeds to benefit their mission statements.
In April 2011, Kevin attended the 3rd annual Washington State Traumatic Brain Injury Conference where he met John Lee, Director of WA Department of Veteran Affairs. After learning about a rehabilitation project for returning troops and veterans with traumatic brain injuries from Mr. Lee, Kevin declared that he would offer his assistance to be a part of the effort by donating the revenue from his web application. With Mr. Lee's connections and involvement with VFFA, Kevin was introduced to Bob McIntosh, who assisted with making this merger a reality. Now under management of VFFA, the proceeds yielded from Kevin's web application will assist with the provision of financial support for the organization's various projects benefiting the Veterans and their families.
As a Director, one of Kevin's roles is to assist the Director of IT with the expansion of the web application's functionality to include other branches of service for their events. He will also serve as an outreach specialist, promoting the vision and mission of VFFA. His story, combined with his talents and connections in the Veteran community, promotes Kevin to be an exemplary model of what VFFA strives to do for veterans and their families. Kevin's involvement of this organization is a true example of a Disabled Veteran being a contributing member of society.