Paula was educated at St. John's College and at Notre Dame Law School (Magna Cum Laude). She began practicing law as the first female Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Clay County, Mo. A year later she became the first female attorney at the boutique law firm of Deacy and Deacy in antitrust litigation and insurance defense.
In 1984, AT&T recruited Paula to create rules for telecommunications competition in Missouri and Texas. At Southwestern Bell, she was responsible for all company matters involving the Missouri Public Service Commission, including a Missouri Supreme Court case worth more than $200M annually. Eventually, Paula headed negotiations of the company's wholesale outsourcing arrangements. Significant transactions included a $10 billion deal in which AT&T became IBM's telecommunications provider of choice and related transactions in 26 countries. Paula handled similar transactions with Accenture and EDS.
In 2011 Paula became responsible for procuring from developers new wireless applications for large commercial customers. Paula has a son and daughter and retired in 2012.
