About
The Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management is dedicated to improving efficiency, effectiveness, governance, and accountability at all levels of government, with a particular focus on local and state government. The Center’s aim is to enable public entities to provide high quality services to the people they serve on a sustainable basis.
Our History
Since its establishment by the State Legislature in July 2008, the talented staff of practitioners at the Collins Center have provided a comprehensive set of services to scores of the Commonwealth’s cities, towns, school districts, and state agencies, as well as to a growing number of municipalities in other states.
In this short time, the Center has grown from 20 projects per year in its first few years to nearly 80 projects in Fiscal Year 2018. In doing so, the Center has built a strong reputation in municipal performance management, organizational studies, executive recruitment, and many other services.
The Center is named for Edward J. Collins, Jr. Throughout his long and distinguished career in public service, Collins epitomized integrity, professionalism, and innovation, and he served as an important mentor to hundreds of past and present municipal and state officials.
The Collins Center is one of a dozen core centers and institutes in the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
By the Numbers
Since the Center was founded, it has provided support to:
- over 160 cities and towns;
- 24 school districts;
- 26 regional agencies, quasi-governmental agencies, or county governments; and,
- 8 state secretariats.
Helping Government Work Better
View the Edward Collins Center for Public Management Brochure, which provides a quick tour through some of the work that the Center has done. (PDF)
Public Sector Management Consulting
The Center’s aim is to enable public entities to provide a variety of high quality consulting services to the people we serve on a sustainable basis.
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Edward J. Collins, Jr. Biography
Throughout his long and outstanding public career, Edward J. Collins, Jr. epitomized the spirit and goals of the Center for Public Management that now bears his name. A Boston native, Collins was a graduate of Boston College and Boston College Law School.
Collins began his career in public service in 1978 at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue as the Deputy Commissioner in charge of the newly-created Division of Local Services (DLS), where he helped local officials understand the complexities of Proposition 2½ and created cutting edge computer technology to help cities and towns set and collect property taxes. In 1987, Collins received the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation Award for Outstanding Service to the Commonwealth. The Foundation cited his transformation of DLS from an agency that simply processed numbers to one that functioned as a source of valuable information, advice and assistance to local governments. Collins also served in a variety of elected and appointed roles in his adopted hometown of Saugus, culminating in his appointment as Town Manager in 1991.
Collins left his position in Saugus in 1996 to become the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of the City of Boston, where he oversaw a $1.8 billion operating budget and brought fiscal discipline to the City during a period of difficult financial pressure. Collins officially retired in 2002, but he continued to serve as a special advisor to Mayor Thomas F. Menino until 2005. Perhaps most importantly, Collins was an important mentor to hundreds of past and present municipal and state officials.
Collins passed away in January 2007 after a lengthy illness. In July 2008, a new Center for Public Management was established here at UMass Boston by the Governor and the Legislature and was named in his honor.