Dean Phillips is a father, businessman, civic leader, eternal optimist, and Representative for Minnesota's Third Congressional District in Congress.

A Gold Star Son who lost his birth father, Artie, in the Vietnam War, Dean was adopted into the Phillips family when his mother DeeDee married Eddie Phillips, who raised Dean to work hard and always share success.

Dean was raised in Edina, attended Brown University, and returned to Minnesota to earn his MBA from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Business. After working at a variety of small startups, he worked his way up and eventually led his family's business, Phillips Distilling. He later went on to help build Talenti Gelato into one of the top-selling ice cream brands in the country. He is now co-owner of Penny's Coffee, a small business in the Twin Cities, and is active in the philanthropic community in Minnesota through the Phillips Family Foundation.