One of the Times' most influential voices, Collins became the first woman ever appointed editor of its editorial page in 2001. The author of several books, she now writes an op-ed column.

A Cincinnati native, Collins' earliest jobs in journalism were with publications in Connecticut like the Hartford Advocate. In 1972, she founded the Connecticut State News Bureau, which provided coverage of CT politics; when she sold in just five years later, it was the largest service of its kind in country. She subsequently wrote columns for Newsday and the Daily News, and even had her own TV show on Connecticut Public Television. In 1995, Collins made her move to the New York Times, where she initially served on the editorial board and as an op-ed columnist. In 2001, she was named editor of the Editorial Page, the first woman in the history of the NYT to hold the post. After a brief hiatus to pen one of her books, she returned to the Times' as a columnist and began working at Columbia and Southern Connecticut State University's journalism schools. Beyond her work as a journalist, she's written several works of nonfiction such as Scorpion Tongues: Gossip, Celebrity and American Politics, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, and The Millennium Book, which she wrote with her husband, CBS producer Dan Collins. But to most, she is best known for her opinion-pieces in the NYT, with a large number of them, somehow, featuring her thoughts on that little anecdote about Mitt Romney and his dog. [Image via Getty]