Chief executive officer

Amy is an accomplished executive with deep roots in the Gulf South region. As chief executive officer at Gambel Communications, Amy leads a multi-talented team to provide integrated marketing and public relations services to clients across a myriad of industries.

Amy graduated from Loyola University New Orleans with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and from Louisiana State University’s Manship School with a Master in Mass Communication. She is certified in crisis communications by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and she has served as adjunct faculty at Loyola and Tulane University. 

In addition to her role at Gambel, Amy and her husband, Sherwood Collins, created the Beignet Fest Foundation and Beignet Fest in 2016. Through their journey with their son, Liam, who is on the autism spectrum, the couple recognized a need to create awareness and funding for programs to serve children with developmental differences. Beignet Fest has become a signature festival in New Orleans, raising tens of thousands of dollars to support local advocacy, education and enrichment programs.  For their efforts, Amy and Sherwood have been recognized by Upturn Arts, Families Helping Families and YMCA of Greater New Orleans with annual achievement awards.

During her career, Amy has been honored as a YLC Role Model, CityBusiness Woman of the Year, New Orleans Magazine Top Female Achiever, and she’s made the People to Watch list for New Orleans Magazine. Amy has twice been a part of The New Orleans 500, an annual publication from Biz New Orleans which profiles business leaders who are driving the greater New Orleans economy. She was an inaugural fellow of the Norman C. Francis Leadership Institute at Xavier University. She’s also been through the Institute of Politics, New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute (NORLI) and New Orleans Business Alliance’s Economic Development Ambassadors programs. Most recently, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from PRSA and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Norman C. Francis Leadership Institute.

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Amy took a break from communications consulting and spent six years leading the Young Leadership Council (YLC), a member-based nonprofit organization with a mission to develop leadership in young professionals through community engagement. A highlight of her time at the YLC was developing the downtown Wednesday at the Square concert series into an annual rite of spring and tripling the organization’s fundraising to develop programs to serve all aspects of post-Katrina New Orleans.

During the early part of her career, Amy worked in sports marketing for the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, Super Bowl XXXI Host Committee, New Orleans Brass hockey team, Louisiana State University Athletics and University of New Orleans Athletics. She has worked in the communications agency business on teams at J. Walter Thompson Worldwide, Logan Marketing, Deveney Communication and P.R. PR, Inc.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Amy has been active in the community since high school, serving on boards and committees for various organizations. She is a past president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals New Orleans chapter, Women’s Professional Council of New Orleans, and she currently chairs the Beignet Fest Foundation’s board of directors. Amy has also served as a board member for the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA), Arts Council of New Orleans, Lafitte Greenway, Dress for Success, International Association of Business Communicators, and before joining the staff at the Young Leadership Council, she served on their board as vice president of development and gala chair.