Phil Zepeda '66

Board member and FAA Treasurer, G. Phil Zepeda, was known to his St. Francis class of '66 as "Greg" before he joined the order in 1968 in Oldenburg. He came to know the Franciscans through his association with the Friars and the Franciscan Sisters from Mishawaka while a student at St. Michael School where he sang in the choir, served as an altar boy and was eventually tapped on the shoulder for a summer retreat at the minor seminary under the watchful eyes of Frs. Sylvan Becker and Basil Westendick. His family lived on Duns Scotus Avenue. How could he not come under the Franciscan spell, growing up in their long shadow?

Phil and his family lived for a time in post-war Japan where Phil believes he first got the spark of inspiration to be a missionary. He actually had noodled over the notion to join the Society of the Divine Word until the Franciscan ideal captured his imagination, whereupon he began studies at St. Francis in 1962. He particularly like the scholastic challenge, sports, Glee Club, the frivolous frolics called plays under the tutelage of Fr. Aubert and the process of "growing into manhood" with a great group of guys including his younger brother, Carl, SFS '70.

Phil continued with the Franciscans through Duns Scotus, a summer in Park View, NM with Fr. Declan (Nils) Thompson and a brief start at St. Leonard's. Upon leaving the Order, he pursued a Masters in Religious Studies/Counseling at U of Detroit while teaching high school for a number of years. 

Army life must have instilled a sense of entrepreneurship in Phil, because he eventually left teaching and embarked on numerous self-employed pursuits until financial planning provided the challenge and diversity to keep him interested. 

Phil got a Masters degree in financial planning as well as virtually every recognized professional designation in the field and started the Ann Arbor Center for Financial Planning in 1986. His firm provides a full range of financial services: manages investment portfolios, retirement/insurance plans, manages real estate, prepares taxes and provides notary services. He sits on the $500 million+ Ann Arbor Municipal Employees Pension Board. 

Phil has two girls: Renee, studying this year in Munich, Germany for her junior year at U of Michigan while Andrea is in her second year at U of Chicago, nursing the notion of going into pre-med. Andrea did her senior year of HS in Tuebingen, Ann Arbor's "Schwester-Stadt." All love Big Ten sports, with Andrea throwing herself into the fray of Chicago lacrosse and Phil often hosting classmates at U-M home games. 

Phil attributes his success in business to the spirit of "service above self" which is the shibboleth of Rotary to which he has belonged for twenty years. A graduate professor used to tell his class, "If you want to be Nobel prize winners, hang around Nobel prize winners-join Rotary!" So Phil did. Many of his current clients are Rotarians who share the same spirit of community service. Phil is a Paul Harris Fellow, was Rotarian of the Year, led a Group Study Exchange Team to Mexico where his grandmother was born and is an Assistant Governor of his Rotary district.

Over the years, Phil has been in Jaycees, sat on numerous non-profit boards in addition to the FAA for which he served twice as president, been music director in several parishes where he also played guitar, worked with youth including Boys/Girls Clubs, Scouts, several Senior Agencies, Catholic Social Services, helped run a gubernatorial campaign, and served as officer or president of several professional societies. 

Phil joins Jim Beyer and George Ski on the Awards committee and will be helping to arrange the 2000 Chapter in Detroit. He welcomes the assistance of willing Michigan alumni.