A Gold Star Son who lost his birth father, Artie, in the Vietnam War, Dean was adopted into the Phillips family when his mother DeeDee married Eddie Phillips, who raised Dean to work hard and always share success.

Dean was raised in Edina, attended Brown University, and returned to Minnesota to earn his MBA from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Business. After working at a variety of small startups, he worked his way up and eventually led his family's business, Phillips Distilling. He later went on to help build Talenti Gelato into one of the top-selling ice cream brands in the country and opened Penny's Coffee, a small business in the Twin Cities. Dean is active in the philanthropic community in Minnesota through the Phillips Family Foundation. In Congress, Dean is focused on restoring Americans' faith in our government. He's on a mission to inspire a new era of collaboration in Washington, pursue common ground for the common good, and end the corrupting influence of special interest money in our politics. Dean is Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), Ranking Member of the House Small Business Committee, and Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Middle East, Northern Africa, and Central Asia Subcommittee.

Dean has shown leadership and a commitment to working across the aisle during the COVID-19 pandemic. After hearing from struggling small business owners in the summer of 2020, Dean wrote the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act with Texas Republican Chip Roy. Signed into law by President Trump, this critical piece of legislation helped small businesses keep their doors open and saved thousands of American jobs. Dean has also been a voice for oversight and transparency of trillions of pandemic-related stimulus dollars, and has led the Problem Solvers Caucus in negotiations with the White House and Congressional leadership to deliver bipartisan solutions for the American people.

The nonpartisan Lugar Center ranks Dean as the 13th most bipartisan out of 435 Members of Congress. He has been named a Fiscal Hero by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and was recognized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with the Jefferson-Hamilton Award for Bipartisanship in the 116th and 117th Congress.

Dean has two adult daughters, Daniela and Pia. He lives in Wayzata, Minnesota with his wife, Annalise, and Henry the Norwich Terrier.