Biography

Spencer Phillips is an ecological economist with more than 30 years’ experience focused on the intersection of economic development and environmental stewardship. His passion is for helping people and institutions realize — that is, to understand and to attain — the benefits of environmental improvement. He achieves this through research into the value of ecosystem services, especially as impacted by climate change, land and resource waste management, and efforts to reduce air, water, and solid waste pollution, and by communicating these values to stakeholders and decisionmakers at all levels of government and in the private sector.  

Prior to joining the Global Studies faculty, Spencer founded Key-Log Economics, a consultancy based in Charlottesville and Hanoi providing “research and strategy for the land community”. He and his colleagues (who have included several fellow UVA alumni) helps government, business, and civil society organizations achieve their conservation, sustainable development, and organizational goals. Previously, he was a staff economist at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Executive Director of NorthWoods Stewardship Center, and Vice President for Ecology and Economics Research at The Wilderness Society.  

Spencer added university teaching to his career in 2013, teaching economics, natural resource policy, and spatial analysis and “Vietnam: and Ecological-Economic Exploration” at UVA. He has also taught ecological economics in the environmental studies master’s program at Goucher College and microeconomics at VinUniversity’s College of Business and Management in Hanoi, Vietnam. 

With this mix of academic, NGO leadership, business startup, and policy-focused applied research, Spencer likes to teach concepts and methods in ways that are grounded in and applied to real-world challenges. His courses draw from and engage students in examples of his past and ongoing work on climate change, wildland conservation, food systems, energy supply, biodiversity conservation and other pressing environmental challenges/opportunities.  

Spencer’s PhD and MS are in Agricultural and Applied Economics from Virginia Tech. With his BA in economics from the University of Virginia, Spencer is delighted to be back on Grounds for a third time.  

Backpacking on a snowy Mt. Rogers for spring break in 1983 re-connected Spencer to wildlands and sparked his passion for exploring the intersections of wilderness with human and economic development. Whenever possible he continues that exploration by hiking, bicycling, boating, and volunteering with environmental and animal welfare organizations in Virginia and Vietnam.