From 2011 to 2016, he was Director of the Museum at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA),[2] and previously worked as Director of The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum from 1996 to 2010.
[3] At PAFA, Philbrick developed community education programs and increased the amount of contemporary art in the museum's collection and exhibitions.
[4] Philbrick started at The Aldrich Museum as Director of Education, developing a student docent program that trained young people to lead tours for their peers.
Under Philbrick’s directorship, the Aldrich Museum expanded its exhibition space and created an education center and sculpture garden.
[5] He is the father of Inigo Philbrick, who was convicted of wire fraud in May 2022, sentenced to seven years in prison, and ordered to forfeit $86.7 million, for what has been described as the largest art fraud in American history.