Anthony W. J. Phillips-Spencer is a retired brigadier general, a distinguished soldier, scholar, and diplomat from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, with more than 44 years of diverse national and international public service experience.
Following a highly decorated 35-year military career, he retired in 2016 as Vice Chief of Defense Staff of the Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force (TTDF). He subsequently served as Trinidad and Tobago’s Ambassador to the United States and Mexico, and as Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), where he chaired the OAS Permanent Council, the Committee on Hemispheric Security (CHS), and the OAS Working Group on Haiti. He also served as National Coordinator for the Summits of the Americas.
Phillips-Spencer has held numerous senior roles in multidimensional national and international security initiatives. In Trinidad and Tobago, he served as director of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), chairman of the National Ebola Prevention, Information and Response Team (NEPIRT), and program director and administrator of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Internationally, he served with the United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) and the United Nations Support Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH), as Defense Attaché to the United States and Canada, as Chief of Delegation to the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB), and as an Alternate Representative of Trinidad and Tobago’s Permanent Mission to the OAS.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master of science degree in international relations from the University of the West Indies (UWI), and a master’s in philosophy in public policy and administration from Walden University. His military professional development includes training at the Canadian Forces Combat Training Centre (CTC), the US Army Infantry School, and the Canadian Forces College (CFC). He has also completed senior executive education at the Inter-American Institute for Social Development (INDES), the US National Defense University (NDU), the Inter-American Defense College (IADC), the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies (GCMC), the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, the National Defense University of China, and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
For his outstanding contributions to international defense and security cooperation, Phillips-Spencer has received the Legion of Merit (Degree of Officer), awarded by the President of the United States, the Order of Naval Merit (Grade of Grand Officer), awarded by the President of Brazil, the United Nations Peacekeeping Medal, the IADB Medal, and the Delaware National Guard Distinguished Service Medal.
As a global public-interest and public-trust executive leader, former Ambassador Phillips-Spencer applies his expertise in geopolitics, international security and development cooperation, public policy, and leadership to advance the causes of equality, equity, peace, productivity, and social justice.
Phillips-Spencer joined the Dialogue as a Member in 2025.
