Michael Collins is Vice President at JFF, a national non-profit working to transform our nation’s education and workforce systems to accelerate economic advancement for all. Mr. Collins serves on JFF’s executive team and provides leadership for JFF’s programs. For the last 16 years he led a multi-state postsecondary reform network working to increase completion rates for learners from low income-backgrounds by supporting individual colleges and state postsecondary systems to identify and implement evidence-based practices and practitioner-informed policies through reform initiatives such as Achieving the Dream, The Developmental Education Initiative, Completion by Design, the Student Success Center Initiative, and the American Association of Community Colleges Pathways Project. In the fall of 2020, he took the helm of a new JFF effort to increase equity in education, employment, earnings, and economic mobility outcomes for underserved populations in our economy with a special emphasis on Black learners and workers. An inveterate collaborator, he has partnered with nationally recognized organizations such as the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program, Carnegie Math Pathways|WestED, the Dana Center, SOVA Solutions, the Community College Research Center, and a host of other organizations, state systems, and philanthropic institutions. Prior to joining JFF, he served as Assistant Commissioner for Participation and Success at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Mr. Collins serves on the boards of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and the National Student Clearinghouse and is board chair of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. He is also serves as a commissioner for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Mr. Collins holds a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.