Tim Collins

Tim Collins is the Founder and CEO of EBSCO Information Services (EIS), which is the largest division of EBSCO Industries, Inc. EBSCO Industries, Inc. is one of the largest private companies in the United States. EIS has more than 3,250 employees and annual sales of more than two billion dollars.

In 1983, while in college, Tim co-founded a company specializing in indexing and abstracting of periodical information, which was subsequently purchased by EBSCO Industries, Inc. He oversaw the explosive growth that took EBSCO from a niche provider of print indexes in the 1980s to what it is today — one of the world’s most important for-fee Internet research services. He has guided the company to very strong organic growth, combined with a steady stream of more than 60 strategic acquisitions. EBSCO Information Services is now the leading online research service for educational institutions and public libraries, offering the most-used databases in the world. Over the last several years, EIS has expanded its product offerings and  is now a leading e-book aggregator, a discovery service provider, a point-of-care content provider to medical institutions, and the largest provider of collection development and purchasing services for books for academic libraries.

In 2015, Tim was recognized for his contributions to the information industry by the National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS) as the recipient of its Miles Conrad Award. In 2021, he was inducted into University of New Hampshire’s Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, In 2023, he gave the Commencement address at UNH’s Paul College of Business and Economics and received an honorary Doctorate in Business degree from UNH.

Tim believes in protecting the environment and has been the driving force behind EBSCO’s conversion of its fleet of cars to hybrid and electric vehicles; the installation of more than 500 solar panels at the company’s Ipswich headquarters; the addition of numerous electric car charging stations on campus; and the distribution of thousands of recycling bins and green bags to libraries and local communities. The EBSCO Solar Grant program has donated solar arrays to multiple libraries each year for many years. Tim has made personal donations to support the installation of solar arrays at The Trustees, The Governor’s Academy, Glen Urquhart School, and Essex County Greenbelt and is a Ipswich River Watershed Association steward. Tim lives on a farm that has solar trackers that generate more power than the farm uses.

Tim is a collector of historical artifacts related to American history and is a Founder and past Board Member of the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. The Collins Career and Resource Center at the Peter T. Paul School of Business and Economics at his alma mater, the University of New Hampshire, bears his name.

Tim lives on the North Shore of Boston with his wife Emily and they have two children.