Jim Phillips is in his 25th year as a professional educator and has been teaching at Coeur d'Alene High School since 1998. He directs the Jazz Band, Chamber Orchestra, String Orchestra, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Marching Band/Pep Band, and teaches a Beginning Guitar class. He served as Chair of the CHS Fine Arts Department, and is a frequent guest conductor, trumpet soloist, and clinician throughout the Northwest. Ensembles under his direction have been invited to perform at the Idaho All-State and NAfME All-Northwest Conventions. Currently, he is the Idaho District 1 Music Educators President and Large Group Festival Chair, and served as Chair for the 2013, 2018, and 2023 Idaho Music Educators Association All-State Orchestra. He was honored by the Mayor of Coeur d'Alene with the 2022 Coeur d'Alene Arts Commission "Excellence in the Arts Award". In 2023, he was appointed to both the Teacher Advisory Council for the Idaho Humanities Council and the Curriculum Committee for Music Education of the Idaho State Board of Education. He has been listed numerous times in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and has been honored multiple times with the North Idaho Student Teacher Achievement Recognition award for outstanding educators. 

He attended Washington State University, where he studied with Gerald Webster and Dr. David Turnbull, earning a Master of Arts in Music, Bachelor of Arts in Music, Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance, and a K-12 Teaching Certificate. He performs regularly with the Coeur d’Alene Symphony (Principal Trumpet) and the Bob Curnow Big Band. He has also played with The Royal Fireworks Band, Spokane British Brass Band, Spokane Symphony, North Idaho College Jazz Band, North Idaho College Wind Symphony, Washington-Idaho Symphony, Spokane Civic Theater, Opera Coeur d'Alene, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theater, Northwest Sacred Music Chorale, Chorale Coeur d'Alene, the Spokane Jazz Orchestra and numerous Active Duty Air Force Bands and Air National Guard Bands. He has also taught trumpet lessons through North Idaho College, and maintains a private teaching studio.

During the summer of 1999, he attended the Academy of Military Science, where he received his commission as an officer in the Air National Guard. Major (retired) Phillips served as the Commander/Conductor of the Air National Guard Band of the Northwest (560th Air Force Band), Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington and served as a Staff Officer for the 141st Air Refueling Wing. He lives in Coeur d’Alene, ID with his wife, their four beautiful children, an ever-expanding flock of chickens and three very happy dogs.