He was a former mayor of Salt Lake City and held several high-level positions in the Utah state government.

[2] He subsequently served as Chief of Staff to Utah Attorney General Jan Graham, as a Commissioner at the Utah State Tax Commission, and as Executive Director of the Department of Community and Culture.

[3] In June 2010, Governor Gary Herbert appointed him as Executive Director of the Department of Human Services.

[3] While serving as the Executive Director of the Utah Department of Community and Culture, under then Governor Jon M. Huntsman Jr., a housing development to serve chronically homeless Utahns was named "Palmer Court" to recognize Depaulis's decades long involvement in homeless issues.

[4] In 2014 DePaulis was presented with Career Humanitarian Award at Utah Philanthropy Day by Intermountain Catholic.