Philip Bay is an experienced Chief Executive Officer and serial entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of leading large international development projects. He established Colliers International affiliates in southeastern Europe and successful companies in media, real estate development/advisory, and hospitality as an early pioneer, often in less-than-hospitable circumstances and sometimes in conflict zones.
He was instrumental in establishing Amchams in southeastern Europe and held numerous elected positions as President in Bulgaria and Albania, Vice President & Treasurer in Bulgaria, Second Vice President in YU/Serbia and was an active Amcham member in all the Balkan countries from 1994-2009.
Bay is mission-focused and a strong team player and community builder that enjoys leading diverse and multiethnic teams to success. Keenly interested in disaster relief efforts, he spearheaded a team to rebuild a Muslim fishing village in Sri Lanka after the Tsunami of 2004. Known as “Rebuild Kirinda”, he teamed up with world-renowned architect Shigeru Ban, led the fund-raising effort and rebuilt the entire community based on local materials. The project won numerous awards from MIPIM, CNBC, ULI and the Aga Khan.
In the 1980s, he was a journalist who wrote for the International Herald Tribune, San Diego Union, the New York City Tribune and several Danish publications covering topics such as macroeconomics, emerging entrepreneurship in the former COMECON countries, as well as political turmoil in Asia. In 1986 Philip Bay received a National Medal of Honor for bravery from President Corazon Aquino (Medalya ng Katapangan) for his reporting during the “People’s Power Revolution” in 1986. While he was a university student he wrote two books published in Danish – a fusion food cookbook and a first-hand account of the insurrection in Manila.
Born in California, Bay learned entrepreneurship from his family business, and had a culinary apprenticeship at the historically Jewish club known as the Concordia Argonaut in San Francisco. He later graduated with a BA and an MA from the National Institute for Political Science, Aarhus University in Denmark, an Associate Degree from Aalborg University in Denmark and three years of parallel classes at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales and the American University in Paris, France and the Interuniversity Center in Dubrovnik, SFR Yugoslavia.