William E. Phillips, owner of Niles Expanded Metals & Plastics, Trumbull County, has been selected to receive the Thiel College Haller Enterprise Institute 2002 Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

The accolade will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1 in Howard Miller Student Center's Sawhill-Georgian Room on the Greenville-based college's campus.

Phillips, a Sharon High School alumnus, earned a bachelor's degree in 1954 from Thiel College. He is owner, chairman and chief executive officer of the company he purchased in 1985 from Republican Corp.

Prior to purchasing Republican, Phillips served in several positions with the company he first started working at in 1965. They included: marketing director, sales vice president, purchasing vice president, executive vice president and president.

He is a member of the Manufacturing Association of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Industrial Information Institute Inc. He also founded the Expanded Metal Manufacturers' Association.

Phillips is past president of the Niles Chamber of Commerce and a former member of the YMCA board of directors. He has served on the St. Joseph Hospital Foundation board and has been a sponsor and participant in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. Phillips received a citation and certificate in 1983 from the American Cancer Society.

He and his wife, Mildred, live in Warren, Ohio.