University of Alabama System Board of Trustees President Pro Tempore Scott M. Phelps has been selected as a member of the Alabama Business Hall of Fame Class of 2026. The honor recognizes individuals who have brought lasting fame to the state of Alabama through their business contributions.
Trustee Phelps serves as vice president and secretary of Greene Group Inc., president of Alabama Life Reinsurance Company Inc., vice president and secretary of Alabama Catfish LLC, and secretary of USA Energy LLC.
A longtime business and civic leader in Alabama, Phelps has played key roles in banking, reinsurance, energy and corporate leadership while remaining active in higher education and community service. He also helped organize Bryant Bank in 2005 and has served on the bank’s board as secretary for more than a decade.
Phelps began his legal career in 1979 with the Birmingham law firm then known as Bradley Arant Rose & White, joining as an associate before becoming a partner in 1985. His multi-state legal practice represented a broad range of individuals, businesses, and public and private corporations, including several Fortune 500 companies. He was admitted to practice in multiple state and federal courts, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States, where he successfully argued and won a case in 1988 at the age of 33. In 1995, he returned to his hometown of Tuscaloosa to join Greene Group.
He earned his bachelor’s degree cum laude from Birmingham-Southern College and received his Juris Doctor from The University of Alabama School of Law in 1979. In addition to serving on the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees, Phelps also serves on the UAB Health System Authority Board.
Phelps and his wife Carroll live in Tuscaloosa and have three children.