howe street group

Meet our Consultants

We are passionate about the work of our local civic, nonprofit and business communities and are here to help amplify the impact of those organizations.

Maggie Collins

Founder & Managing Principal

Maggie Collins, founder of the Howe Street Group, specializes in government and legislative affairs, policy analysis and development, political and campaign strategy, major-gift fundraising, and large-scale event government relations.

[email protected]

Maggie Collins, Founder and Managing Principal

Maggie Collins is Founder and Managing Principal of Howe Street Group, LLC, a public policy consulting firm specializing in government relations, nonprofit development, and strategic communications. She currently serves as Government Relations Lead for KC2026, Kansas City’s FIFA World Cup 2026™ Host Committee, and Co-Chair of the Government Relations Working Group for all 11 U.S. Host Cities. In these roles, she leads federal funding strategy, coordinates with FIFA and the White House Task Force, and manages congressional engagement for one of the largest sporting events ever hosted in the United States.

The events of September 11, 2001, shaped Maggie’s career and continue to inform her commitment to public service. At the time, she was serving as a policy advisor in the U.S. Senate, working on transportation, aerospace, and agriculture issues. Following the attacks, she supported U.S. Senators during the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and later helped stand up the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), working with Secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff and representing TSA and DHS before Congress.

In 2005, Maggie joined the White House Homeland Security Council under President George W. Bush as Director of Aviation Security Policy. She coordinated aviation security policy across DHS, DoD, DOJ, FBI, and CIA, drafted National Security Presidential Directive 47/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 16, and contributed to the State of the Union Address.

She later served as Manager of Federal Government and Industry Relations at Cerner Corporation, where she led government relations strategy and its political action committee. Maggie then joined the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas as Development Director, working closely with the late Senator Bob Dole on major gifts and endowment development.

Maggie holds an M.A. in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College and a B.A. in Political Science and Communication Studies from the University of Kansas. She lives in Leawood, Kansas with her husband Tom and their three children, where she holds her most important title: Mom.

Robin Smith

Partner

Robin Smith, partner at the Howe Street Group, is a public relations and business consultant who helps organizations elevate their brand, engage their stakeholders and optimize their internal operations.

[email protected]

Robin Smith, Partner

Robin Smith, partner at the Howe Street Group, is a public relations and business consultant who helps organizations achieve their strategic priorities by elevating their brand, engaging their stakeholders and optimizing their internal operations.

With more than 21 years of cross-sector experience spanning public and private corporations, political campaigns, and nonprofit organizations, Robin is a trusted advisor to senior leaders who are navigating complex challenges. Her expertise includes strategy analysis and development, brand positioning, strategic communication, end-to-end experience design, change management, and more. She is known for her ability to turn big ideas into actionable workstreams that meaningfully engage stakeholders and deliver desired results.

At Howe Street Group, Robin partners with organizations on both strategic and communication initiatives. Her communications work has spanned brand development, thought leadership positioning, executive ghostwriting, media strategy, web content development, media relations, and event marketing. She has also supported a variety of business strategy initiatives—guiding executive teams through organization redesigns, end-to-end experience design, and business plan development; aligning program strategies with brand and mission priorities; and creating business cases and market analyses that support long-term business objectives, financial growth and organization effectiveness.

Before joining Howe Street Group, Robin held leadership roles at Hallmark, Inc. and Cerner Corporation. At Hallmark, she spearheaded employment branding, employee experience, and corporate communication efforts, advising C-level executives, overseeing company-wide change initiatives, and leading the company’s internal communication program. She supported the company’s top leaders with communication and crisis management consulting during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping them manage significant business and workforce impacts.

At Cerner, she was responsible for building a recruitment marketing program to attract top engineering talent; supported the company’s thought leadership brand through an executive event series; and managed corporate community investment efforts.

Robin’s expertise also includes political campaign strategy, having served as Finance Director for a successful federal congressional campaign and volunteering on other races throughout the Kansas City region.

She holds a B.A. in English and Communication from William Jewell College and a professional certification in Graphic Design from the Kansas City Art Institute. A proud Kansas City resident, she lives there with her husband and two children.

“From developing a new service line, an internal communication audit, small departmental re-organization, succession planning to a large multi-year re-organization, Maggie and Robin were patient and challenged our assumptions of our work, pushing us to think differently, develop communication and test the new strategies we were developing.  Their knowledge of government, HR and communication is a targeted solution to many of the complexities we faced.“

—Tricia SuelleNtrop, Library Director, Johnson County Library