Paula R. Collins

In 2004, Ms. Collins founded Portfolio Real Estate Consulting, (PRC) a firm which provides development management services to, for profit and non-profit corporations seeking to plan and develop commercial and residential real estate. To date, PRC has provided development management services to a range of owners, including Boudin Bakeries for their showcase Boudin at the Wharf project on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf , and Glide Economic Development Corporation for the development of affordable housing in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood.

Ms. Collins is a former Chair of the Board of the Holding Company for the California State Automobile Association and Inter-Insurance Bureau, an organization whose territory at that time included Northern California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Montana, and Oklahoma. Ms. Collins is a Founder and Director of Presidio Bank headquartered in San Francisco, where she chairs the Compensation and Community Reinvestment Act Committees. She has been a Presidential Appointee to the M.I.T. Corporation's Visiting Committee for the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. She is also on the Board of Special Olympics for Northern California.

Ms. Collins prior non-profit board service includes serving as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and also Chair of the Grants for the Arts Committee for the City of San Francisco. She served for eight years on the Council on Small Business and Agriculture for the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. She has served on the Board of Directors of BRIDGE Housing Corporation, and was a Board member for the Studio Museum in Harlem for ten years.

In 2007 Ms. Collins was awarded the prestigious Silver Spur Award by the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research organization, in honor of her dedication to improving the quality of life and economic health of San Francisco. In 2009 she was given the Northern California Influential Women in Real Estate award, by Globe Street. com.

Previous awards include the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., and the Rudy Bruner Award for Excellence in the Urban Environment. In 2003 Ms. Collins was given the Athena award for the Bay Arena by the National Athena Foundation. The San Francisco Business Times has included Ms. Collins in its annual list of the 100 Most Influential Business Women in the Bay Area for six consecutive years.

A cum laude graduate in urban studies from Mount Holyoke College, Ms. Collins received her Master of City Planning degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.