Descended from a multi-generation family enterprise dating to Oklahoma’s 1889 Land Run, T. Ray Phillips brings a lifetime of firsthand, dynamic insight to guiding privately held and family-owned companies. He discovered that his own family’s Dawson Produce Co.—a tri-state operation—struggled and ultimately failed during a leadership transition, creating decades of financial and familial repercussions across the family tree. This prompted him, in 1998 to found a boutique planning firm, Family Business Legacies, LLC, to help other families avoid a similar fate through an intentionally structured process of Succession and Continuity planning.
T. Ray became Indiana’s first Certified Family Business Specialist (CFBS) and is among an elite group of fewer than 500 professionals nationwide to earn this credential from The American College in Bryn Mawr, PA. He also holds the Accredited Estate Planner (AEP®) and Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®) designations and earned a Graduate Certificate in Business Succession Planning from The American College—credentials that reflect both technical mastery and rigorous, multidisciplinary training.
Through Family Business Legacies, T. Ray counsels business-owning families on Business Continuation, Owner Exit Strategies, Leadership Succession, Ownership Transfers, and the Stewardship of Multi-generational Wealth. He approaches these disciplines with the analytical precision expected in law, accounting, or medicine—delivering independent, comprehensive assessments so clients understand every benefit and burden of their choices. This process equips owners with the knowledge and tools to protect the vitality of their enterprises while helping to safeguard family wealth and harmony for future generations.
Beyond his professional work, T. Ray and his wife, Tia, are avid sports enthusiasts—cheering for the Oklahoma Sooners, Chicago Cubs, and Wrexham AFC, or finding him either snow skiing with his kids, Thomas and Audrey, or running diagonals on the soccer pitch as a High School and State Referee. He also believes firmly that “. a person should leave their community better than you found it” and thus is deeply engaged in his community via service through the Indy Phoenix FC Soccer Club, The Oaks Academy, Broad Ripple Haverford Little League, Downtown Indianapolis Kiwanis Club, and North Central High School.
