Paula Conti

Senior Principal Consultant

Strategic Planning, Financial Accounting, ERP Systems, Retail, Payroll, Wholesale Fuel and Logistics, Business Process Improvement, Change Management, Project Management 

Paula Conti’s passion for helping companies succeed is evident through her 28+ years in the convenience store, wholesale fuel, and logistics industry. An experienced customer service executive, strategic advisor, and project manager with technical skills, Paula brings deep expertise in strategic planning, financial accounting, ERP systems, process improvement, change management, and project management to client projects. She builds strong internal and external relationships that ensure company and customer success.

Paula comes to Impact 21 from Professional Technologies (PDI), where she played many senior level roles. Most recently she served as the Senior Sales Consultant, and previously Senior Sales Executive and Senior Sales Engineer. She was a top revenue generating salesperson for technology software, hardware, and services for the convenience store, fuel, and logistics industry. Paula worked with customers to develop return on investment and implementation strategies. She was responsible for client relations and new project initiation for wholesale and convenience store customers.

Paula also served as Vice President of Customer Services and Training for PDI, where she managed a team supporting international clients on multiple products. She performed business reviews for customers to guide them on efficient use of technology and created and conducted training classes, including the annual PDI Users Conference. As the Director of Customer Services, she was the Project Manager for several strategic customer implementations including 7-Eleven, Murphy USA, and Kroger Grocery stores and interfaced with FuelQuest, AutoGas, and Radiant project teams. She created functional software design documentation for interfaces between PDI software products and external systems such as SAP, Oracle, and JD Edwards accounting packages. Paula served in several consulting roles throughout her time at PDI, including Director of Consulting. She developed consulting methodology standards for host, accounting, and wholesale fuel implementation projects. She trained new consultants on PDI software and participated in new software design or enhancements discussions for the PDI/Enterprise and PDI/RMS software.

As the Owner/Chief Financial Officer of CK’s Convenience Store/Cajun Kitchen and Bon Appétit Catering, Paula designed and built a premier convenience store with proprietary foodservice and catering in central Texas, featured in NACS and TPCA. There, she implemented PDI Enterprise software and POS scanning and was responsible for all financial aspects of running the convenience store and foodservice operation.

Paula obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from California State University. She continued her education with an MBA from Columbia Southern University with a concentration in International Relations in conjunction with international consulting experience. She is a former Project Management Professional (PMP) with 14 years of certification and Agile certified. She has shared her wisdom serving as an instructor at every PDI User Conference for 27 years. Among her accomplishments, she was selected in 2014 as one of the CSNews Top Women in Convenience Retail.

After settling down in Belton, Texas for over 20 years, Paula returned to her native Louisiana with her husband, allowing them to spend lots of time with their two daughters. Paula is very involved as a grandmother of two adored baby girls. She volunteers for the Giving Hope “Women of Hope” group, specifically as the chair of the annual Hope for Children Christmas bazaar. Dedicated to people, her favorite quote is that of Mother Teresa, “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.” Paula also enjoys being involved in local Mardi Gras activities, attending festivals, scuba diving, and traveling the world.