Frank Phillips
Co-founder 1917Background
Frank Phillips was an Oklahoma oil entrepreneur who helped build Phillips Petroleum from a regional oil producer into a major refining and marketing business.
Role at Phillips 66
Phillips 66 possesses a historic, aggressive founding story, rooted entirely in the chaotic early days of the Oklahoma oil boom and defined by two intensely daring brothers who understood the power of an iconic brand. The foundational origins trace back to 1917 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, when L.E. (Lee Eldas) Phillips and Frank Phillips founded the Phillips Petroleum Company. Frank Phillips was a charismatic, intensely aggressive former barber and bond salesman who caught the 'oil fever' sweeping the unsettled Indian Territory (soon to be Oklahoma). Their foundational masterstroke was not just discovering lucrative oil fields (like the Burbank field), but dominating the complex 'downstream' market. In 1927, they made a strategic pivot into retail gasoline. The legendary, iconic creation of the 'Phillips 66' brand occurred during an aggressive road test. While testing their new, advanced high-gravity gasoline on historic Route 66 in a modified car, a company executive excitedly noted they were flying at an unprecedented 66 miles per hour. By merging the speed, the historic highway number, and their advanced fuel, the 'Phillips 66' brand was born. Through decades of aggressive consolidation (eventually merging with Conoco in 2002 before spinning off in 2012), the Phillips brothers' intense, foundational focus on advanced petroleum engineering established the bedrock of the modern American downstream energy sector.