Senator Collins graduated Phi Beta Kappa from St. Lawrence University in 1975 and began working for Maine Representative Bill Cohen. She remained a member of his staff when he was elected to the Senate three years later, where she was promoted to staff director of the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee of the Committee on Governmental Affairs.
In 1987, she was appointed by Maine Governor John McKernan as Commissioner of the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. In 1992, she was appointed as Director of the Small Business Administration’s Regional Office by President George H.W. Bush. She continued her work to champion small businesses when she was named the founding Executive Director of the Center for Family Business at Husson College (now Husson University) in 1994.
As a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I hold key positions in Congress that oversee and shape national security issues of importance to both Maine and the United States. I have successfully secured provisions in annual defense authorization and funding bills that support work at Bath Iron Works, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the University of Maine, Saco Defense, Pratt & Whitney, and other companies that are vital to Maine's economy.