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.
Millions of Americans wear the honorable title of Veteran, and our great State of Maine has one of the highest percentages of Veterans in the country. As the daughter of a World War II Purple Heart recipient, I learned first-hand of the sacrifice that these heroes and their families make to advance the cause of freedom. I have advocated on behalf of our nation’s Veterans by protecting access to rural health care, holding the Department of Veterans Affairs accountable in the wake of scandal, and expediting the process for disabled veterans to obtain the services they earned.