MMF 2020 Symposium – Day 1

Bill Tompkins is the  Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation, based in Rockville MD. He directs all of their business operations and is responsible for implementing its strategic plan, along with working side by side with MCEDC’s President and CEO to ensure that we lead the charge for making Montgomery County one of the best places to be in business in the country. 

Bill has a strong 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, in addition to taking on other corporate responsibilities.

From May 2014 until August 2015, 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 US.

 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.

Bill joined the Eastman Kodak Company in 2000 as Chief Marketing Officer for the Entertainment Imaging Business unit and became General Manager of the Motion Picture Film Group where he was also a corporate vice president.

Prior to Kodak, Bill spent nineteen years at The Washington Post Newspaper in a variety of executive positions between 1982 and 2000. His most recent position there was Vice President of Marketing although he also worked in the Advertising and Circulation Departments.

Bill has been in active leadership positions on several nonprofit Boards. They include the Mosaic Theater Company of DC where he is Chair of the Board.  He was previously Chairman, National Kidney Foundation, National Capital Area, member, 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 also 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.