Dr. The Honorable Peter Phillips, OJ, MP holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics, a Masters in Government (from The University of the West Indies), and a Doctorate in Sociology from the State University of New York at Binghamton (USA) where he studied under Professor Immanuel Wallerstein. He worked as a lecturer in Government and Politics at the Consortium Graduate School (UWI Mona). He has previously written and published on issues such as National and World identities and the Interstate System, the political economy of Jamaica's foreign relations, the World System, Westminster Politics in Jamaica, and Twentieth Century Social Movements in Jamaica.
Dr. Phillips also has a distinguished career as a Jamaican public servant, working as the MP for Saint Andrew East Central since 1993. Phillips is the former president of the People's National Party and former leader of the Opposition in Jamaica. He served as Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister until 1991, when he was appointed PNP General Secretary and Minister of Special Projects in the Office of the Prime Minister. Dr. Phillips also served as Minister of Health under Prime Minister P.J. Patterson from 1995 to 1997. In 1998, Patterson appointed him Minister of Transport and Works. He was elected a vice president of the PNP in 1999, serving with Portia Simpson Miller. He was subsequently appointed Minister of National Security and also served as Minister of Finance and Planning of Jamaica from 2012 to 2016.