Gov. Romney Names Collins to Head Mass. Registry of Motor Vehicles

Gov. Mitt Romney appointed the state’s top license enforcer as the new Registrar of Motor Vehicles one day after Kimberly Hinden resigned over a planned reorganization of the state agency.

Hinden announced her resignation last week after a failed attempt to prevent Transportation Secretary John Cogliano from reorganizing her agency. He recently consolidated the Registry’s business functions and ordered it to move out of its pricey offices in Copley Square.

Hinden and her supporters tried to prevent those moves by putting a provision into a budget bill. A group of senators helped defeat the measure.

Collins has been director of the Division of Professional Licensure since February 2003. The division oversees standards of conduct for professionals licensed by 29 independent boards, covering professions ranging from plumbers, electricians, and architects.

Prior to being DPL director, Collins was deputy director and chief of staff for the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation. She was also deputy registrar for the Registry of Motor Vehicles between 1999 and 2002.