Patricia “Patty” S. Collins was appointed the 27th Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) Director by U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen, effective March 24, 2024, following the 2023 retirement of former Director Leonard R. Olijar.
Patty is the first woman to serve as director in the agency’s 162-year history.
The mission of the BEP is to develop and produce U.S. currency, trusted worldwide. The BEP develops overt and covert security features for U.S. currency deterring counterfeit currency production and circulation. Patty leads the BEP setting the world standard for banknotes and document security through excellence in manufacturing and innovation. Most notably, BEP’s current priorities are establishing a state-of-the-art, new facility in Beltsville, Maryland; implementing new print technologies; replacing and upgrading obsolete manufacturing and production support equipment; and, designing the next family of currency notes anticipated to begin issuance by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in 2026.
Patty joins the BEP from the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) where she served as Deputy Director, the agency’s second highest ranking position, and Chief Operating Officer where she led GPO’s operations, including Plant Operations for Security and Intelligent Documents and Official Journals of Government and Customer Services. These business units are responsible for GPO’s most important products, including the U.S. passport, Congressional Record, Federal Register, White House print materials, secure federal credentials, and other congressional and executive branch products and services.
Prior to joining the GPO in May 2020, she was a Principal consultant at the McChrystal Group where she focused on leadership development and guiding clients through complex challenges in the public and private business sectors.
She retired as a Colonel, following a 24-year-career in the U.S. Army, spending seven of those years within the Joint Special Operations Command. During her military career, she deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. A pioneer in her field, she was one of a small number of women to serve in Special Operations and was the first woman in the Department of Defense to complete the Military Free Fall Jumpmaster Course.
In 2006, following her return to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from Iraq, she was hit by a car while riding her bicycle to work. The injury was so severe she elected to amputate her leg below the knee. Upon rehabilitation, she continued her military service for nine more years, including a deployment to Afghanistan and commanding at the battalion level. She retired from active duty in 2015.
In 2016 she represented the United States at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the sport of triathlon. A native of Hackettstown, New Jersey, Patty holds a Master of Science from The Eisenhower School, National Defense University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University.