FAMU alumnus Art Collins will serve as keynote speaker at the 2009 summer commencement. Collins is a former Student Government Association President and served as the first chairman of FAMU's Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2003.Collins is the founder, president and chief executive officer of Public Private Partnership Inc., an independent strategic planning and political consulting firm. Since 1989, the firm has provided strategic advice to multinational corporations, entrepreneurs, investors, political campaigns, political parties, elected leaders, nonprofits and government organizations.
Collins served as a public liaison within the Obama-Biden Transition Project following the 2008 United States Presidential election. During the 2008 presidential primary and general election campaign, he served as senior political strategist for current U.S. President Barack Obama. In 2004, Collins was senior advisor to U.S. Senator John Kerry, the Presidential Democratic Nominee during his general election campaign for President of the United States. In 1990, he served as campaign manager for Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Leander J. Shaw, Jr. Collins was a member of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Democratic Business Council during the tenure of DNC Chairman Ron Brown.
He received his B.S. degree in accounting from the FAMU School of Business and Industry. He is married to Sela Thompson Collins and has five children. His son, Andrew Collins, served as FAMU’s student body president and university trustee during the 2008-2009 school year.
The commencement ceremony is scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight in the Multipurpose Center Teaching Gymnasium.
WOW the head of the 1st Chair of the BOT who gave us Fred Gainous! Who refused to give Humprhies any typre of pay servance/bonous.....A jeb puppet tried and true! I will be coming in after this disgrace has finished spewing his BS....
ReplyDeleteI will be there tonight, before, during, and after Mr. Collins' speech. Congradulations grad!!
ReplyDeleteI doubt that this arrogant, self-centered, S.O.B. could be classified as a Jeb puppet. Had Jeb had his way R.B. Holmes would have been Chair of our initial BOT, not Art.
ReplyDeleteActually 2:30am, Mr. Collins was the individual that desired to have Charlie Nelms serve as our president following Humphries. It was Corbin, Bryant, Holmes, and a few other Bushites that backdoored Ganious into the deal. Rather you like the man or not, the truth is that he was a strong BOT chair that stood up to the GOP members that served on the board during that time. At times it appeared that collins was serving as a lone ranger (go back and read some of the capital outlooks, and the famuians to see some of the ideas that collins had for the university). Lastly, if I recall correctly, shortly after the Ganious scame, Collins resigned his position because he knew that he was going to be virtually powerless on the board.
ReplyDeleteAll that aside, Collins actually gave a pretty good speech tonight.
ReplyDelete12:02/6:44, You are on point. Many people were not paying attention yet. But you speak truth. Art Collins is a Rattler! Congratulations Graduates! See you at the nearest Alumni chapter, WE NEED YOU AND YOUR IDEAS AND SUPPORT.
ReplyDeleteI know AC as well as anybody. Yes he IS arrogant. Yes he can be self-serving. But you will never meet a smarter individual. What makes AC special is he has the uncanny ability to peer around corners. AC senses what is going to happen long before others understand what is going on around them.
ReplyDeleteThirty years ago, AC would talk about "now" is the time to make FAMU a private institution, free from the Legislature's control. He had roughly calculated the cost of gaining control from the state of Florida. Had other taken him seriously then, we would never have had the sorry years of Gainous and Bryant.
I don't agree with or approve of many of Arthur's decisions and you never quite know when he's helping you or using you, but he is one smart cookie.