General Electric Co. executive and UConn law professor Gary H. Collins is the new chairman of the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.
CHRO is the state agency responsible for addressing discrimination through civil and human rights law enforcement and working to establish equal opportunity and justice for all persons within the state.
A lawyer and Portland resident, Collins, 45, currently works as a core compliance leader with GE Capital in Norwalk.
He has also been an adjunct professor at UConn School of Law since 2004. He previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C.. before joining Day, Berry & Howard LLC (now Day Pitney) where he was elected partner in 2006.
Collins sits on the board of the Council for a Livable World, a nonpartisan advocacy organization dedicated to reducing the danger of nuclear weapons and increasing national security.
He is the founder of the Collins Foundation Inc., which invests in initiatives that improve educational opportunity and strengthen community organizations in Connecticut, with a special emphasis on individuals from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds.
He is a graduate of the State University of New York, Buffalo (1988) and Vanderbilt University School of Law (1991).
