Paula Tompkins is founder and CEO of ChannelNet and an acknowledged pioneer in using personal technology to facilitate multichannel marketing and sales. In the last 30 years, she has helped hundreds of the world’s leading companies use technology to sell their products and build customer relationships.

Ms. Tompkins began her career working in sales and marketing at 3M, General Electric, and several technology start-ups. Among other achievements, she was instrumental in the design and marketing of early personal computers, including the Actrix and Grid, the first true portable computers. She also invented Skytray, an interactive electronic advertising medium targeted to airline passengers, for Altus Corporation.

Tompkins’ early foray into interactive selling fueled her belief that the personal computer was a persuasive communication platform for selling and buying. Since founding ChannelNet (formerly The SoftAd Group) in 1985, she has led the company to create multichannel marketing and sales solutions based on the best available technologies — from early iterations of multimedia, through CD-ROM and client/server technology, and on to the Internet.

As an expert in using technology to improve marketing and sales processes, Tompkins is a much sought-after resource for journalists and authors, and as a conference panelist and keynote speaker. She has appeared on television in Tom Peters' "Thriving on Chaos" and PBS' "The Nightly Business Report," as well as on National Public Radio's "Money Talks." Tompkins has lectured at Columbia University's School of Business, the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business, and Stanford University.