Mr. Collins is Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As Chief Economist, Keith is responsible for the Department's agricultural forecasts and projections and for advising the Secretary of Agriculture on economic implications of alternative programs, regulations, and legislative proposals. He is responsible for the Office of the Chief Economist, the World Agricultural Outlook Board, the Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis, the Global Change Program Office, and the Office of Energy Policy and New Uses. Keith has served as Acting Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Economics during 1993 and 1994 and, prior to that, Director of the Economic Analysis Staff in the Office of the Secretary. He also currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation regulates, assists and reinsures the crop insurance industry that today sells 1.3 million policies annually to farmers, with a total liability of over $35 billion. Keith is also Vice Chairman of General Administration Board of the USDA Graduate School, a $65 million per year non-appropriated Federal educational institution that trained over 180,000 students last year. Keith received the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive in 1990 and 1996 and for Distinguished Executive in 1992, the highest award a Federal executive can receive.
Mr. Collins, a native of Connecticut, holds degrees from Villanova University and University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. in economics and statistics from North Carolina State University.
