President/C.E.O.
A. Shawn Collins is President/CEO of Tally Group International; He’s a U.S. Army Veteran and a graduate of The Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University with a degree in Economics and Finance. He also attended graduate school at FSU where he studied Urban and Regional Planning with an emphasis in Transportation Planning and Design.
A proud Veteran, Mr. Collins completed his Basic Training at Ft. Gordon, GA where his M-O-S was an Oh 5 Charlie (O5C). After AIT, Mr. Collins was briefly assigned to Ft. Benning, GA & Ft. Bragg, NC for some additional training before being permanently assigned to Wackernheim, (pronounced, Vack-ern-hime) Germany where he completed the remainder of his tour of duty.
After fulfilling his military duty, Mr. Collins returned to college where he finished the remainder of his degrees. Immediately after grad school, Mr. Collins was recruited by the Planning Dept. in Imperial Polk County. After one year in the Polk County Planning dept., Mr. Collins was recruited by, and accepted the offer to staff a newly created agency, the Volusia County Metropolitan Planning Organization (VCMPO).
While at the MPO Mr. Collins instituted a complete overhaul of the agency. This overhaul included modernization of their bylaws, operating manuals, computers, the software, and more importantly, the Staff. At the time of his appointment, Mr. Collins was the first-ever Black to lead an MPO in the entire country. In addition to that feat, he was also the youngest (28) MPO director in Florida, if not, the country.
Mr. Collins has always pride himself in being a trend-setter in his chosen field. His agency was the first to data-base their long and short-range transportation plans. The Volusia MPO was the first to create GIS-based project lists, such that an elected official or citizen could “click” on a line on a map that represents an on-going, existing, or future project to find out the status of that project.
Mr. Collins required that his staff possess the necessary skill-sets to complete any and all studies that private consultants were hired to perform. That has been his mantra for his entire career. That attention to detail and mindset has served him well till this day. Mr. Collins is a team-builder, and a firm believer in ‘leading-from-the-rear’. What that means is that he believes in giving credit, where credit is due. Just because he’s the leader, does not mean that he should get the credit. He has been known to say,,,
“My job is to give you the credit, even when you may have been just a bit-player, while I take all of the criticism, even when I may not have been at fault.”
That’s the mindset Mr. Collins has carried with him his entire career, and its the same mindset that TGI promotes for every one of its projects.
- PTP (Professional Transportation Planner): #027
- AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners): #06743
- Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated: Sum. ’82 Initiate