John Aristotle Phillips

John Aristotle Phillips (born August 23, 1955) is an American entrepreneur and pioneer in the strategic application of technology to politics and political communication. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 1978, where he gained international attention as the “A-Bomb Kid” for designing a theoretical atomic bomb from publicly available documents. He later co-authored the book Mushroom: The Story of the A-Bomb Kid.

In 1983, Phillips co-founded Aristotle, Inc. with his brother Dean, originally creating the first database for campaign finance reporting. Over four decades, the company grew into a leading provider of data analytics, compliance, machine learning, and consulting services for political campaigns, PACs, and grassroots organizations, serving clients across the political spectrum. Aristotle also incubates PredictIt, a political prediction market often called “The Stock Market for Politics.”

Through Aristotle’s Integrity division, Phillips has been active in the iGaming and gambling sector, offering online age/identity verification and compliance solutions for gaming regulators and operators. He has spoken at industry events such as GiGse and Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford, and has appeared on Bloomberg, CNBC, and Fox Business.

Phillips ran as a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Connecticut’s 4th district in 1980 and 1982.