Bill Tompkins, The Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation

Bill Tompkins is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC), based in Rockville, Maryland. He leads a team of 25 diverse professionals who work to fulfill the mission of making Montgomery County one of the most diverse, equitable and best places to be in business in the country. Bill was previously Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and has been with MCEDC since January of 2019. Bill has a deep background in marketing, business operations, strategic planning and nonprofit management, with most of his career serving as a senior executive in the media and entertainment industries with Fortune 500 companies. From 2009 until 2018, Bill ran a consulting practice which advised companies on strategic business opportunities and brand transformation strategies. Previously, Bill was Vice President, Advertising and Marketing at the Philadelphia Tribune. He made a strategic investment in the Tribune to help ensure the long-term sustainability of Black media in the U.S. In July 2012, he was named President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a Washington based organization, which represents over 200 Black owned and operated newspapers across the nation. Past leadership experience included work at the Eastman Kodak company as Chief Marketing Officer for the Entertainment Imaging Business unit and became Vice President and General Manager of the Motion Picture Film Group while also serving as a corporate vice president. Prior to Kodak, Bill spent nineteen years at the Washington Post in a variety of executive positions, culminating in a position as Vice President of Marketing with most of his career spent in the Advertising and Circulation Departments. Bill has been in active leadership positions on several nonprofit Boards. They include the Mosaic Theater Company of D.C. where he is Treasurer and the former Chair of the Board, Rockville Economic Development, Inc. (REDI), Worksource Montgomery and the Advisory Boards of the Universities at Shady Grove and Montgomery Moving Forward. He was previously Chairman, National Kidney Foundation of the National Capital Area; member of the Board of Directors, California Chamber of Commerce; the Advertising Council; the Studio Theatre; The Washington Convention and Visitors Association; The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington; the American Black Film Festival Advisory Board; and The Helen Hayes Awards Committee. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and a graduate of Leadership Washington. Bill received his MBA from the Harvard Business School where he was a General Motors Fellow and received his BA in Economics, magna cum laude from Tufts University.