The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has appointed Abbey Collins as the chief communications officer where she will oversee all aspects of strategic communications for the agency.
She joins the MTA as the agency is implementing a transformation to improve service for the more than six million riders who rely on the system every day.
"Abbey Collins is a world-class communications strategist and we are thrilled she is joining our team," said MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick Foye. "Abbey's experience, both in the public and private sector, is second to none and she will be a tremendous asset to the organization as we continue the MTA's historic transformation."
Collins most recently served as a director at Kivvit in New York where she advised Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, not-for-profits and governments on strategic and crisis communications while creating successful public affairs campaigns.
Prior to that, Collins served as press secretary to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2018 re-election bid, overseeing day-to-day and long-term communications. She also served as first deputy press secretary in Gov. Cuomo’s Administration where she served as an on the record spokesperson for the governor and over 50 state agencies and authorities. In the administration, she led communications efforts for major infrastructure projects from the opening of the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge to the unveiling of the brand-new Kosciuszko Bridge to the groundbreaking of Moynihan Station and Penn Station’s West End Concourse.
“I’m excited to join the talented, passionate team at the MTA as the agency undergoes a total transformation,” Collins said. “The MTA is working every day to improve service and reliability for New Yorkers and telling that story at this critical moment couldn’t be more important. I look forward to getting to work.”
Collins also previously served as press secretary to New York State Senator Jeff Klein and worked at a public affairs and political communications firm. Collins holds a bachelor’s from the State University of New York at Albany.
