Aspen Strategy Group

Susan Collins

United States Senator

Program:
Aspen Strategy Group

Biography

Susan Collins is serving her fourth term in the United States Senate, representing the state of Maine. She is the Ranking member and former Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and serves on the Appropriations Committee, Armed Services Committee, and the Special Committee on Aging. Previously, she served for six years on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Senator Collins was also the first freshman Senator ever to lead the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. She co-authored the Collins-Lieberman Intelligence Reform Legislation, signed into law December 2004, representing the most sweeping changes to the U.S. intelligence community in more than 50 years and implementing many of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. Prior to her current position, she worked for former Maine Senator William S. Cohen for 12 years. From 1987 to 1991, she worked in the cabinet of Maine Governor John R. McKernan as Commissioner of Professional and Financial Regulation. She then served as New England Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration from 1992 to 1993. In 1994, she became the founding Executive Director of the Center for Family Business at Husson College in Bangor, Maine, until she resigned in 1996 to run for the Senate. Senator Collins graduated from St. Lawrence University. She is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group.