Paul was elected as regional director on the ASFPM Board and served much of the 1990s and 2000s, a passionate advocate for common-sense floodplain management at the state and local levels.

He served as co-chair of ASFPM’s Flood Insurance Committee for many years working with Bruce Bender and ASFPM Legislative Liaison Merrie Inderfurth to successfully promote NFIP Reforms. This included dozens of trips to Washington, DC to educate legislators on floodplain management and flood insurance concepts. Paul has also testified before Congress on the NFIP.

Following the 1993 Great Midwest Floods, Paul played a key role working with ASFPM and FEMA on the development of floodplain management and mitigation programs in Midwest states. Using local success stories, Paul helped promote expansion of nonstructural floodplain management at the national level.   

Paul has been a strong advocate of floodplain compliance and especially substantial damage regulations, working with ASFPM and FEMA to encourage uniform national compliance in all states.

Coordinating with ASFPM and legislators, Paul helped develop national regulations addressing floodplain development on federally leased property. This included dozens of meetings, hundreds of letters, and a segment on NBC Nightly News focusing on the problem of repetitive loss properties. Thanks to Paul’s efforts, flood losses on federal lands in Illinois have since been reduced by more than $10 million annually. The State of Illinois was awarded the Tom Lee Award for Paul’s activities.

Paul has provided leadership, guidance, training, and assistance to many states following flood disasters, both onsite and behind the scenes.

He served as the ASFPM representative to conferences in Australia and Europe and has hosted many international visitors on tours and field inspections in the U.S.

Paul was conference co-director for the first ASFPM conference to break 1,000 attendees, held in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003. At this same conference, he also organized the first silent auction to benefit the Foundation. These auctions have become annual events, which have since earned thousands of dollars for flood work and scholarships across the nation.  

Paul worked with Diane Brown on awards and nominations at many conferences through the years to recognize the contributions of ASFPM members to reducing flood risk in the nation.

He also served on the Certified Floodplain Manager Committee and helped develop and grade early exams, as well as helped develop the first Floodplain Management Home Study Course.

Paul has helped write, edit and review dozens of NFIP, floodplain management, and mitigation publications and guidebooks. He conducted dozens of presentations and classes for ASFPM on floodplain management, including helping develop partnerships with other large professional groups (National Realtors Association, Certified Property and Casualty Underwriters, National Re-Insurance Association, and more). He also provided training and workshops at the National Training Academy (EMI and Mt. Weather), national flood conferences and many state conferences.

Most recently, Paul was appointed an ASFPM Foundation Associate and serves on the ASFPM Foundation Scholarship Committee.

Paul has won numerous awards for his years of dedicated service, including FEMA’s Lifetime Achievement Award and Illinois Lifetime Achievement Award, Outstanding Service Award (3x), and (most importantly) honorary citizenship from several communities.