Susan Collins

Born December 7, 1952, Senator Collins was raised in Caribou, a small city in northern Maine, where both her parents have at one time served as mayor. Her family runs a fifth-generation lumber business, founded by her ancestors in 1844 and operated today by two of her brothers. A 1975 magna cum laude graduate of St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Senator Collins worked for former Maine Senator William S. Cohen for 12 years. In 1987, she joined the cabinet of Maine Governor John R. McKernan as Commissioner of Professional and Financial Regulation, a position she held for five years. She then served as New England Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration from 1992 to 1993. In 1994, Senator Collins ran her first campaign for public office and became the first woman in Maine history to receive a major party nomination for governor after winning an eight-way Republican primary in June of 1994. She lost the general election in the fall. In December of 1994, Senator Collins became the founding executive director of the Center for Family Business at Husson College in Bangor, Maine, a position she held until she resigned in 1996 to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Cohen. She won both a contested Republican primary and a four-way general election later that year.