Colonel Martha Layne Collins (née Hall; born December 7, 1936) is an American former businesswoman and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky; she served as the state's 56th governor from 1983 to 1987, the first woman to hold the office and the only one to date.

Legal challenges to the incentives – which would have cost the state the plant and its related economic benefits – were eventually dismissed by the Kentucky Supreme Court.

[3] When Martha Layne was in the sixth grade, her family moved to Shelbyville, Kentucky, and opened the Hall-Taylor Funeral Home.

[3] Her parents were active in local politics, working for the campaigns of several Democratic candidates, and Hall frequently joined them, stuffing envelopes and delivering pamphlets door-to-door.

[6] Having won the title of Kentucky Derby Festival Queen earlier that year, she briefly considered a career in modeling.

The Woodford County chapter of Business and Professional Women chose Collins as its 1976 Woman of Achievement, and in 1977, Governor Julian Carroll named her Kentucky Executive Director of the Friendship Force.

[2] In a field that included six major candidates, Collins secured the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in the 1979 primary, garnering 23 percent of the vote.

[6] Her opponents for the Democratic nomination included Louisville mayor Harvey Sloane and Grady Stumbo, the former secretary of the state's Department of Human Resources.

The media's criticism of Collins continued as many of the appointments to her executive cabinet went to what they characterized as inexperienced personnel who had held key positions in her past campaigns.

[19] Four days after her inauguration as governor, she was chosen to deliver the Democratic response to President Ronald Reagan's weekly radio address.

[20] At a news conference following her speech, Collins was asked again if she would be willing to be considered as the Democrats' vice-presidential candidate in the upcoming election; she replied "No, not at this time.

[21] Prior to the convention, Walter Mondale, the presumptive presidential nominee, interviewed Collins as a possible vice-presidential candidate before choosing Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate.

[24] Collins announced a new education package in June 1985 that included a five percent across-the-board pay raise for teachers, a reduction in class sizes, funding for construction projects, aides for every kindergarten teacher in the state, and a "power equalization" program to make funding for poorer school districts more equal to that of their more affluent counterparts.

[26] After two weeks of deliberation, the General Assembly approved Collins's education plan, tripling the corporate licensing tax to $2.10 per $1,000 in order to pay for the package.

They also approved implementation of a pilot preschool program and the purchase of new reading textbooks, but failed to act on Collins's request for an additional $3.9 million to improve the state's vocational education system.

[29] Legislators approved calling a referendum on a constitutional amendment – supported by Collins – to make the state superintendent of education an appointive, rather than elective, office.

In 1987, a plan to increase revenue through changes in the state income tax was abandoned when Wallace Wilkinson, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee who would go on to succeed Collins, announced his opposition to it.

[31] Collins's efforts in Japan yielded her most significant accomplishment as governor – convincing Toyota to locate an $800 million manufacturing plant in Georgetown.

[34] Given Armstrong's concerns, the administration employed general counsel J. Patrick Abell to file a friendly test case to determine the constitutionality of the incentive package.

[38] Shortly after the announcement that Toyota was moving to Georgetown Collins, in her capacity as governor, condemned a portion of land belonging to real estate developer Gordon Taub.

[6][42] In 1987, Collins promised $10 million in state aid to Ford to incentivize the company to expand its truck assembly plant in Louisville.

[43] The state experienced record job growth under Collins's economic development plan, which included attempts to attract both domestic and international companies.

[45] A plan proposed by Democratic state senator Ed O'Daniel was expected to provide the framework for legislation considered in the session.

[44] Under O'Daniel's plan, additional revenue for the Special Fund would be raised by increasing assessments on worker's compensation premiums for 30 years.

[6][47] When Western Kentucky University president Kern Alexander resigned to accept a position at Virginia Tech in 1988, Collins was among four finalists to succeed him.

[48] Some faculty members publicly expressed concerns about Collins's lack of experience in academia, and she withdrew her name from consideration shortly before the new president was announced.

[48] After fulfilling her one-year commitment to the University of Louisville, Collins was named a fellow of the Harvard Institute of Politics' John F. Kennedy School of Government, teaching non-credit classes on leadership styles once a week.

[55] In 1996, Collins resigned as president of Saint Catharine College to direct the International Business and Management Center at the University of Kentucky.

[57] When her contract with the University of Kentucky expired in 1998, Collins took a part-time position as "executive scholar in residence" at Georgetown College, which allowed her more time to pursue other interests.

[60][62] In 2009, she was inducted into the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for her contributions "to strengthening economic and cultural exchanges between Japan and the United States of America".