Martha Layne Collins

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Notable

Family

American teacher, businesswoman and politician who served as the 56th governor of Kentucky from 1983 to 1987, the first woman to hold the office and the only one to date. Her election made her the highest-ranking Democratic woman in the USA. Collins was elected lieutenant governor in 1979, under Governor John Y. Brown, Jr. Brown was frequently out of the state, leaving Collins as acting governor for more than 500 days of her four-year term. In 1983, she defeated Republican Jim Bunning to become Kentucky's first woman governor. At the time, Kentucky governors were not eligible for reelection. Collins taught at several universities after her four-year term as governor. From 1990 to 1996, she was the president of Saint Catharine College near Springfield, Kentucky. From 1998 to 2012, Collins served as an executive scholar-in-residence at Georgetown College. In January 2005, she became the chairwoman and chief executive officer of the Kentucky World Trade Center. She has held positions on the boards of directors for several corporations, including Eastman Kodak. Link to Wikipedia biography