Forty Under 40: Phil Schoettlin
by January 12, 2017 3:29 pm 345 views
As chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas’ 3rd District Committee, Phil Schoettlin has seen a metamorphosis in Northwest Arkansas. Since 1990 when he got involved in local politics, the 3rd Congressional District’s number of G.O.P. representatives in the state legislature has grown from five to 15.
Schoettlin credits that to changes in demographics and perceptions, but he called his work rewarding.
He has served as chairman of the Washington County Republican Party, vice-chairman of the district and in 1997 was appointed to the Arkansas State Land Information Board by Gov. Mike Huckabee. During his tenure, the land agency has saved taxpayers $1.3 million by coordinating various state agency projects to form a central repository for digital data.
Schoettlin, 37, attended his first National Republican Convention when he was 12 – the 1976 convention in his hometown of Kansas City. He got hooked, and by 1984 was a volunteer for the Ronald Reagan/George Bush reelection campaign. In 1988, he was a volunteer coordinator for Bob Dole’s failed bid to win the Republican primary.
Since 1997, he has owned Arena Consulting Group Inc., a political consulting firm in Springdale, and Schoettlin also operates retail vendor-consultant Retail Marketing Group Inc.