An easy way to build Columns in ExpressionEngine using Stash - This is a 2 column, 10 item per column, with pagination example

stash-columns.html

{exp:stash:set_list name="directory" parse_tags="yes"}

    {exp:channel:entries channel="profile" disable="categories|category_fields|profile_data|pagination" status="open" limit="200"}

        {stash:company}{profile_company}{/stash:company}
        {stash:first_name}{profile_first_name}{/stash:first_name} 
        {stash:last_name}{profile_last_name}{/stash:last_name}
        {stash:title}{profile_title}{/stash:title}
        {stash:address}{profile_address}{/stash:address}
        {stash:address2}{profile_address2}{/stash:address2}
        {stash:city}{profile_city}{/stash:city}
        {stash:state}{profile_state}{/stash:state}
        {stash:zip}{profile_zip}{/stash:zip}
        {stash:country}{profile_country}{/stash:country}
        {stash:phone}{profile_phone}{/stash:phone}
        {stash:email}{profile_email}{/stash:email}
        
    {/exp:channel:entries}

{/exp:stash:set_list}

{exp:stash:get_list name="directory" orderby="company" sort="asc" limit="20" paginate="bottom"}

    {if count == 1}
        <div class="column">
    {/if}

    <address>>
        <span class="bold">{company}</span><br />
        {first_name} {last_name}<br />
        {title}<br />
        {address}<br />
        {address2}<br />
        {city}, {state} {zip}<br />
        {country}<br />
        {phone}<br />
        <a href="mailto:{email}">{email}</a>
    </address>

    {if '{switch="1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10"}' == '10'}</div><div class="column">{/if}
    {if count == total_results}</div>{/if}

    {paginate}
        {if {total_pages} > 1}
            {pagination_links}
                <ul class="pagination">
                    {previous_page}
                        <li><a href="{pagination_url}" class="page-previous">previous</a></li>
                    {/previous_page}
                    {page}
                        <li><a href="{pagination_url}" class="page-{pagination_page_number} {if current_page}active{/if}">{pagination_page_number}</a></li>
                    {/page}
                    {next_page}
                        <li><a href="{pagination_url}" class="page-next">next</a></li>
                    {/next_page}
                </ul>
            {/pagination_links}
        {/if}
    {/paginate}

{/exp:stash:get_list}

I don't know how resources intensive this is or isn't for that matter but, I do know it works great!

Oh and I know the address tag isn't being used correctly. It's just for example purposes.

It's be brought to my attention, in later version of EE I think starting at 2.7 (don't quote me on that) you can use the Modulus Operator for doing something similar as how I was using the switch: http://ellislab.com/expressionengine/user-guide/templates/conditionals.html#modulus-operator