Men To Watch 2025 honoree Alphonso Phillips

Alphonso has always been drawn to driving meaningful change, whether it’s revitalizing underperforming projects, enhancing enterprise-wide processes, or scaling high-impact initiatives that deliver lasting impact. He has built a career on solving challenges that others shy away from. With a deep commitment to excellence, he combines strategic vision, technical expertise, and a passion for leadership to deliver value, drive innovation, and empower teams.

As a Center of Excellence Program Manager at CDW, he leads transformative initiatives that

enhance efficiency, strengthen collaboration, and align with strategic business goals. His leadership extends beyond internal operations—bridging enterprise transformation with industry-wide impact. In November 2024, he represented CDW at AfroTech, engaging with industry leaders and emerging talent to champion innovation, diversity, and technology-driven solutions. These discussions deepened his commitment to mentorship and inclusive leadership, reinforcing the importance of empowering diverse voices in technology. Within the organization, his ability to refine workflows and implement scalable solutions has empowered teams to operate more efficiently and deliver stronger results. Under his leadership, an internal employee survey on process improvements achieved the highest response rate ever recorded, leading to measurable enhancements across key areas. Additionally, he introduced automated reporting solutions that replaced time-consuming manual processes, significantly reducing workload and improving overall efficiency. Recognized for his commitment to transparency, he ensures that feedback translates into action, reinforcing a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a forward-thinking approach, earning recognition as a leader to watch in 2025. By successfully leading geographically distributed, culturally diverse teams, he has driven collaboration, elevated performance, and delivered mission-critical projects in IT infrastructure, disaster recovery, cloud migrations, and PMO optimizations. With deep expertise in risk management and business continuity (ISO 31000, ISO 22301), he ensures resilience across industries while applying Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid methodologies to drive lasting impact. He is known for improving processes, resolving escalations, and successfully managing programs and projects that are highly visible, strategic to firm direction, or off track, successfully bringing them back on course and delivering exceptional results. When he joined a revenue platform company, their development teams struggled with bottlenecks and inefficiencies, limiting their ability to scale. Recognizing these challenges, he introduced structured Scrum practices and capacity planning, boosting team velocity by 75% in six months. This shift not only improved efficiency but also boosted team morale, creating a more engaged workforce and establishing a sustainable, predictable delivery model for long-term success. His ability to anticipate and mitigate risks has been pivotal throughout his career. This was especially evident when he led a strategic IT initiative in healthcare, overseeing the development and testing of a disaster recovery plan that enabled hospitals to respond swiftly to IT infrastructure threats. In high-pressure environments where minutes can mean lives, his leadership ensured that critical systems and applications remained operational during emergencies. These experiences reinforced his belief that true leadership isn’t just about delivering results—it’s about safeguarding the people and systems that organizations rely on for success.

His leadership extends beyond metrics—he has helped teams build confidence, navigate uncertainty, embrace collaboration, and drive meaningful results—proving that true progress is people-driven, not just process-driven. He takes the most pride in the people he has mentored, the teams he has empowered, and the lasting cultural shifts he has influenced within organizations. One of his most rewarding mentorship experiences was guiding a junior project manager to develop the skills and confidence to lead high-profile initiatives independently, ultimately leading to a well-earned leadership promotion. Over the years, he has realized that meaningful change isn’t just about frameworks and technology. It’s about inspiring people to embrace change, collaborate, and see the bigger picture. Building on his long-standing commitment to mentorship and knowledge-sharing, he will expand his impact this year through training and larger speaking engagements on leadership, transformation, and project management.

For Alphonso, leadership is about more than strategy—it’s about people. He believes adaptability, inclusivity, and collaboration are the keys to driving meaningful change. By staying adaptable, he helps teams navigate uncertainty with confidence. His commitment to inclusivity ensures that every voice is heard, knowing that diverse perspectives lead to the best solutions. And through collaboration, he builds trust, strengthens teams, and creates environments where people feel valued and empowered. This approach has allowed him to turn challenges into opportunities, guide organizations through transformation, and create lasting impact where it matters most. As one of 2025’s Men to Watch, he continues to push boundaries, redefine leadership, and, most importantly, pay forward the mentorship and guidance that shaped his own journey.