Art Collins is President and Chief Executive Officer of Public Private Partnership, Inc., an independent strategic planning and political consulting firm. His firm advises corporations, political candidates, non-profit and government organizations as they execute to positively impact their customers, constituencies and the public at large.
Art serves as a member of the Board of Directors and as Treasurer of Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Political Action Committee and the CBC Political Education & Leadership Institute. He also served as a member of the Democratic National Committee’s Democratic Business Council during the tenure of DNC Chairman Ron Brown.
Most recently, Art served as Senior Advisor to the democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Senator John Kerry, in his 2004 bid for President of the United States. One of Art’s early clients was former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Leander J. Shaw, Jr., who served as a member of the Court during the infamous 2000 U.S. Presidential election. As Justice Shaw’s campaign manager, Art developed and implemented a successful statewide retention campaign which defeated the efforts of a national special interest targeting Justice Shaw for removal from the Court. Over the years, Art has also been retained to consult public and private interest in influencing the outcome of statewide ballot initiatives.
After ending his tenure at the IBM Corporation, Art initially served within the public sector as a policy level manager and deputy receiver within the Florida Department of Insurance. He administered a financial and operational rehabilitation and liquidation program for insurance companies and other regulated financial institutions. He next served as Legislative Affairs Director for the Department and as the Insurance Commissioner’s representative on the Florida Seed Capital Board and the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Statewide Subscriber Assistance Panel.
Art was next appointed by the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives to the position of Staff Director of the Office of Black Affairs, providing technical and political support to African-American legislators. Upon leaving the House staff, Art founded Public Private Partnership, Inc. and served as a consultant to the Florida House of Representatives on issues concerning small business, economic development, and minority business affairs.
Art is the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Florida A&M University, the largest public Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in America. Following his tenure as a U.S. Senator, former Florida Governor Lawton Chiles appointed Art to the Florida Small and Minority Business Advisory Council and the Florida Prepaid College Board, where he served on the investment committee overseeing over $2 billion in investments. Art was also appointed by former U.S. Senator and then Florida Governor Bob Graham to serve on the Governor’s Business Advisory Council on Education and the State Board of Independent Postsecondary Vocational, Technical, Trade and Business Schools. Art received his B.S. degree in Accounting from the School of Business and Industry at Florida A & M University and has studied law at the University Of Miami School Of Law, and abroad at the University of Montpellier in Montpellier, France.
