Paul is the President of the Warm Hearts Foundation--a US-based non-profit organization that conducts education and clean water initiatives in Malawi and Kenya. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Imaging the World, and a founding board member of Opening Village Doors Foundation, which supports start-up businesses in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. In his hometown of Traverse City, Michigan he was for many years a member of the board of directors of the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy.

He is a graduate of Purdue University where he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1968. He also earned a law degree from Indiana University in 1971, following which he pursued a long career as a corporate attorney working in the USA, Hong Kong, and Switzerland. In prior years he has served on the boards of The Intercommunity School of Zurich, The Committee on Taxation of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce, the Midland Economic Development Council, Conflict Resolution Services of Traverse City, and the Inland Seas Education Association.