Susan M. Collins (born 1959/1960) is an American economist who has served as the 14th president and CEO of the

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, commonly known as the Boston Fed, is responsible for the First District of the Federal Reserve, which covers New England: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and all of Connecticut except ...

since July 1, 2022. She is the first African American woman and first woman of color to lead any of the 12 regional

Federal Reserve Bank A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total, one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve A ...

s. Collins previously served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 2020 to 2022.

Early life and education

Collins is a naturalized U.S. citizen of Jamaican descent, born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, United Kingdom and raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She graduated ''summa cum laude'' from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

with a

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

in economics in 1980 and earned her

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in economics from

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) in 1984.

Career

Collins has held various teaching positions at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, and the

. She also served on the President's

Council of Economic Advisers The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical resea ...

from 1989 to 1990 and was a visiting scholar at the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

in 2001. She was a senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

from 2007 to 2017 and became a nonresident senior fellow after her move to Michigan. She served on the

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (informally the Chicago Fed) is one of twelve regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, make up the United States' central bank. The Chicago Reserve Bank serves the Sevent ...

board of directors from 2013 to 2022. Collins is the Edward M. Gramlich Professor of Public Policy and a professor of economics at the University of Michigan, where she also served as dean of the

Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, often referred to as the Ford School, is the public policy school at the University of Michigan. Founded in 1914 to train municipal administration experts, the school was named after University of Mi ...

from 2007 to 2017. She retains the designation of a professor at the university, on unpaid leave. In January 2020, Collins was appointed provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Michigan. As she stepped down as provost in June 2022, Michigan's Board of Regents awarded her a Regents' Citation of Honor for her dedication and service to the university. Collins was involved in the controversy surrounding the University of Michigan's reopening during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On September 8, 2020, the university's graduate student employees went on strike because of concerns related to the university's pandemic response. As the university's chief academic officer, Collins was involved in negotiations with the graduate students while also urging students not to disrupt campus operations and claiming that the strike was illegal because it was not directly related to "wages, hours, or working conditions." The students disagreed, claiming that the strike directly related to the university's failure to provide a safe working environment which was required by the contract it agreed to only months prior. In a publicly broadcast question and answer session on September 15, 2020, Collins said of the administration's pandemic response: “We have not done nearly as well as we needed to.”

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

In February 2022, Collins was selected to serve as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, becoming the first woman of color to lead any of the 12 regional Reserve Banks. She took office on July 1, 2022.

Selected publications

* Bosworth, Barry, and Susan M. Collins. "Accounting for growth: comparing China and India." Journal of Economic Perspectives 22, no. 1 (2008): 45–66. * Collins, Susan M., Barry P. Bosworth, and Dani Rodrik. "Economic growth in East Asia: accumulation versus assimilation." Brookings papers on economic activity 1996, no. 2 (1996): 135–203. * Bosworth, Barry P., Susan M. Collins, and Carmen M. Reinhart. "Capital flows to developing economies: implications for saving and investment." Brookings papers on economic activity 1999, no. 1 (1999): 143–180. * Razin, Ofair, and Susan M. Collins. Real exchange rate misalignments and growth. No. w6174. National Bureau of Economic Research, 1997. * Collins, Susan M. "On becoming more flexible: Exchange rate regimes in Latin America and the Caribbean." Journal of Development Economics 51, no. 1 (1996): 117–138.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Susan M. Living people 20th-century African-American educators 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American economists 20th-century American educators 20th-century American women educators 21st-century African-American educators 21st-century African-American women 21st-century American economists 21st-century American educators 21st-century American women educators African-American economists American women economists Brookings Institution people Federal Reserve Bank of Boston presidents Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy faculty Harvard College alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni United States Council of Economic Advisers University of Michigan faculty Year of birth missing (living people)