Board Profile

Phillip Mills, MC

Phillip Mills started as a gymnast, took ballet to get better at gymnastics, and then cultivated all he knew about movement of the human body to become a world-class choreographer. Between his time in Colorado at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs and at Ice Castle International in Lake Arrowhead and his move to Orange County, Calif., where he currently works at the Lake Forest and Aliso Viejo Ice Palaces, he has sent 23 skaters to World Championships and six to the Olympics.

As a member of the PSA Board of Governors, Mills leads the PSA Apprenticeship Committee, where he indulges his personal goal of leading young figure skating coaches into long and successful careers.

At the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Photo by Vicki Luy

“I feel compelled to give a voice to the younger population of coaches in our industry who have felt overlooked,” Mills said in an interview with PS Magazine. “I created the President’s Award of Excellence to acknowledge these grass roots coaches and to encourage their continued involvement and education. As a committee co-chair with Deborah Jones, we are rebooting and rebranding the Apprentice Program, which will now be called the Accelerated Coaches Alliance.” Mills is married to his wife of 40 years, Michelle Mills, who has taught ballet to several figure skaters, including Nathan Chen.

“Outside of skating we live a very low-key life,” Mills said. “My hobbies include being a certified diver and I enjoy snow skiing. I also am an avid reader and enjoy reading German novels to keep my language skill up. I can teach in Japanese and use to speak Italian; however, it is pretty rusty now."

Presenting at the 2019 PSA Conference in Palm Springs, CA.