Moonlighting. It doesn’t have the bad rap it used to. Today people find ways to make a living and make a life.
Moonlighting is our series about the radically interdisciplinary lives of Lehigh alumni who are successful in two professional areas, and where a secondary “job” is primarily fun and fulfilling.
In this edition, we meet an industrial engineer and EMT.
Phil Sheibley ’81 ’19P
Industrial engineering
Time at Lehigh
He feels he had a perfect education for a career in consulting that included business knowledge, problem analysis, and critical thinking … despite how the other engineering majors teased him as an “imaginary engineer.” He was a member of Delta Phi fraternity where he served as pledge master (when they still called it that!) and recording secretary. Sheibley made many lifelong friends there. He also played intramural volleyball and squash and worked as a monitor in the computer lab.
His time at Lehigh influenced his daughter to attend. “My spouse didn’t want me to pressure my daughters, so I didn’t push,” he says. But one did graduate from Lehigh and majored, like him, in industrial and systems engineering.
Consulting
Sheibley began his career in the consulting division of Arthur Andersen and moved with Accenture when the management consulting division went out on its own. Back when he started, there were 2,000 employees. Today, they total over 700,000. “I was never interested in a 9–5 job,” he says. “I wanted to be part of different teams at different companies.” With 30 years at Accenture, he has analyzed opportunities and challenges of all kinds in order to help companies optimize their operations, expand, and find success. It was an adrenaline rush — staring down expectations, hard deadlines, and desired results.
If he could go back, Sheibley says he wouldn’t do a thing differently. “I have been able to travel, learn new company cultures, and work alongside different teams on a variety of projects,” he says. “I liked the fast-paced learning environment that each project brought. My Lehigh education inculcated me for such work.” It’s clear that he did it well as he became a managing partner and leader in life sciences, focusing on technology, strategy, and global client management.
Becoming an EMT
The emergency team in his town is all volunteer. With his interest in medicine, Sheibley decided to use some free time to earn his emergency medical technician (EMT) certificate. As he got to know the other members of the local emergency medical services (EMS) team, he became a riding member. It was a substantial undertaking, requiring five 12-hour shifts each month — one during each week and one on a weekend. He made that commitment and continued his education. Soon he was taking on leadership roles in the EMS Corps, training others, serving on the board of governors, and leading a new strategic plan.
Then Sheibley was elected chief. That’s when COVID-19 hit and demanded that he create safety protocols, keep his teams calm, and communicate constantly with town officials and citizens. Together they opened an emergency operations center with members from the health department, schools, and fire and police departments. He’s proud to say that no members of his EMS team contracted the illness while serving others.
He has seen it all: heart attacks, gunshot wounds, cars in flames, falls, accidents, and rushing pregnant moms-to-be to the hospital. “We serve as an ER on wheels and work to provide the most important treatments prior to arrival,” he says.
Intersections
He sees strong parallels between his work as a consultant and EMS professional. Both hinge on situational analysis, technical skills, and adrenaline rush. Both require many interpersonal skills as he sees clients of all kinds and in a variety of conditions. “We are often seeing people and organizations on their worst days, but we work to build trust and move people and companies forward,” he says.
Service to the Community
Soon Sheibley was serving as his town’s part-time emergency management director. But that role is one that he advocated to be made full time … not for him to take on but a new person to address the town’s needs to be prepared in the event of storms, power outages, active shooters, and whatever else the world may throw at them. “It feels like the right time to transition to a new challenge,” he says.
What will that be? Well, Sheibley sits on the board of directors at three companies. He travels with his wife to her home country of Sweden. Yes, he speaks some Swedish. He has been making sourdough bread with the same starter for the last seven years (before it was trendy). He also served for more than a decade on the Lehigh Board of Trustees under three presidents and is proud to have invited Joe Helble as a member of the board … before leadership transitions helped propel him to a new role. “I liked helping my alma mater and charting its path forward,” he says.
