Marcella Blakney Collins
Marcella Blakney Collins, MBA, GCDF, is the founder and CEO of Career Edge Essentials, driving the company’s mission to close the employment skills gap, build an effective employee engagement and retention strategy and provide career readiness skills and training to public/private entities, aspiring professionals and underserved youth.
Highly regarded as an influential business leader, Blakney Collins leverages her more than 30 years of workforce development experience to create partnerships and collaborations that enabled more than 1,000 youth, aspiring professionals and tenured executives to tap into their passions, and navigate their professions of purpose.
Blakney Collins’ background includes proven success in corporate governance, talent management, strategic planning, community relations, employee engagement, and diversity and inclusion. She has worked, globally, in more than 10 countries, for companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Rhone-Polenc, Unisys, Philadelphia Coordinating Agency and Germantown Friends.
Blakney Collins, who is also a former educator, received her Masters of Business Administration (MBA), in Human Resources Management from Temple University and her Bachelors of Science in Education from the University of Pittsburgh, both with honors. Additionally, she is a certified Global Career Development Facilitator.
Adding to her list of achievements, Blakney Collins is also a graduate of the Wharton Executive Education program, The Blue Cross Executive Program, and the Johnson and Johnson Crossing the Finish Line Executive Education Program.