Notable Alumni
Wesleyan graduates are successful in every profession imaginable, including law, science, medicine, business, politics, and the creative arts. They are often leaders and innovators in their fields. Here are just some of the University’s many prominent alumni:
Robert Allbritton ’92—Publisher of The Politico; chairman and CEO of Allbritton Communications
Taft Armandroff ’82—Director, W. M. Keck Observatory, Hawaii (world’s largest observatory)
Miguel Arteta ’89—Film and television director (Star Maps, Chuck and Buck, The Good Girl)
Eric Asimov ’79—Chief wine critic, The New York Times
Gerald Baliles ’63—Director, Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia; former governor of Virginia
Andrea Barthwell ’76—Founder and CEO of EMGlobal (consulting firm devoted to international health care and policy); former deputy director for demand reduction, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Washington, D.C.
Michael Bay ’86—Film producer and director (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, The Island, Transformers)
Carter Bays ’97—Co-creator and writer of television show How I Met Your Mother
Ruth Behar ’77—Writer, filmmaker, professor of anthropology, University of Michigan; recipient of MacArthur Award
Bill Belichick ’75—Head coach, New England Patriots, winner of three Super Bowls
Michael Bennet ’87—U.S. senator from Colorado
Herbert Benson ’57, MD—Professor, Harvard Medical School; founding president of the Mind/Body Medical Institute; author of The Relaxation Response
Amy Bloom ’75—Author (Love Invents Us, A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, Away); creator and writer of television show State of Mind
Joshua Boger ’73—Founder, president and CEO, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
David Brancaccio ’82—Host of NOW news program, PBS
Linda Brinen ’88—Director of structural biology, Sandler Center for Basic Research in Parasitic Diseases, University of California, San Francisco
William Bromage ’68—President and CEO, Webster Bank
Ambrose Burfoot ’68—First collegian to win the Boston Marathon; executive editor, Runner’s World Magazine
Majora Carter ’88—Founder and executive director, Sustainable South Bronx; recipient of MacArthur Award
Marysol Castro ’96—Features correspondent, Good Morning America, ABC News
Ka-keung Ceajer Chan ’79—Hong Kong’s secretary for financial services and the treasury; dean, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School
Sasha Chanoff ’94—Executive director, Mapendo International (rescues and protects refugees in Africa)
Robert Crispin ’68—President and CEO, ING Investment Management
Bruce Corwin ’62—Chairman and CEO, Metropolitan Theatres Corporation
Robin Cook ’62, MD—Medical mystery writer (Chromosome 6, Coma, Shock, Crisis, and other best-sellers)
Alan Dachs ’70—President and CEO, The Fremont Group (private investment company); member of the boards of directors of the Bechtel Group and the S. D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation
David Daniel ’77—CEO, Spencer Stuart and Associates (executive search firm)
D. Ronald Daniel ’52—Director and former CEO, McKinsey and Company; former treasurer, Harvard Corporation
Dana Delany ’78—Emmy Award-winning actress whose credits include the television shows (China Beach, Presidio Med, Kidnapped) and films (Tombstone, Fly Away Home)
Jane Eisner ’77—Editor, The Jewish Daily Forward
Joseph Fins ’82, MD—Chief of the division of medical ethics, Weill Medical College, Cornell University; director of medical ethics, New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center
Ted Fiske ’59—Educational writer, creator of The Fiske Guide to Colleges
Jennifer Flackett ’86—Screenwriter (Madeline, Wimbledon, Little Manhattan)
Smokey Fontaine ’93—Editor-in-chief, Giant magazine
Houghton Freeman ’43—Co-founder, American International Underwriters; president, The Freeman Foundation
Michael Fries ’85—President and CEO, Liberty Global Inc., international cable operator
Leslie Gabel-Brett ’76—Director of education and public affairs, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
Jeff Galloway ’67—Olympic runner and author of Galloway’s Book on Running
David Garrow ’75—Author of Bearing the Cross, Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Martin Luther King Jr.
Akiva Goldsman ’83—Film producer and screenwriter (A Beautiful Mind—Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, Cinderella Man, The DaVinci Code)
Christopher Graves ’81—President and CEO, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
Laman Gray Jr. ’63, MD—Leader in the fields of cardiovascular surgery and development of artificial hearts and circulatory support systems; implanted the world’s first self-contained artificial heart, the AbioCor
Matthew Greenfield ’90—Senior vice president of production, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Daniel Handler ’92—Author (under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket) of A Series of Unfortunate Events children’s book series
Lyle Ashton Harris ’88—Photographer and artist
Amir Hasson ’98—Founder and CEO, United Villages (provides low-cost Internet access for remote villages in developing nations)
Darryl Hazel ’70—Senior vice president, Ford Motor Company; president, Ford Customer Service Division
Morrison Heckscher ’62—Chairman of the American Wing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
John Hickenlooper Jr. ’74—Mayor, Denver, CO
Jay Hoggard ’76—Jazz musician, vibraphonist
Gerald Holton ’41—Physics professor, Harvard University; world’s leading authority on the life of Albert Einstein
Jed Hoyer ’96—Assistant general manager, Boston Red Sox
Robert Hunter ’62—Senior advisor, Rand Company; former United States ambassador to NATO
Alberto Ibarguen ’66—President and CEO, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (journalism); former publisher, the Miami Herald
David Jones ’70—President and CEO, Community Service Society of New York
Sebastian Junger ’84—Author (The Perfect Storm, Fire, A Death in Belmont)
Kathryn Keeler ’78—Gold medalist in rowing at ’84 Olympics; Olympics coach in ’96
Herb Kelleher ’53—Founder, chairman, and former president and CEO, Southwest Airlines
Matt Kelley ’02—Founder, The Mavin Foundation (develops projects celebrating mixed heritage people and families)
Thomas Kelly ’73—President and COO, Schaller Anderson, Inc., health management company
Yoriko Kishimoto ’77—Mayor, City of Palo Alto, CA
David Kohan ’86—Co-creator and executive producer of Will and Grace
Alex Kotlowitz ’77—Journalist, activist, author (There Are No Children Here, The Other Side of the River)
Brooks Kraft ’87—Nationally recognized photojournalist whose pictures of the White House and President Bush have appeared in Time magazine
Daphne Kwok ’84—Executive director, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
Julie Lasky ’82—Editor-in-chief, I.D. magazine
Jay Levy ’60, MD—AIDS researcher and educator; professor, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Glenn Ligon ’82—Painter and printmaker
John Lipsky ’68—First deputy managing director, International Monetary Fund
Caroline Little ’81—CEO, Guardian News and Media
James Longley ’94—Documentary filmmaker (Iraq in Fragments)
Gary Loveman ’82—CEO, Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc.
Eric Mangini ’94—Head coach, Cleveland Browns
Emilie Marcus ’82— Editor, Cell magazine
Laurence Mark ’71—Film producer (Jerry Maguire, As Good As It Gets, Dreamgirls)
Paul Mason ’77—Senior vice president, ABC News
Thomas McKnight ’63—Artist
Mora McLean ’77—President and CEO, Africa-America Institute
Mary McWilliams ’71—President and CEO, Regence Blue Shield
Jerry Melillo ’65—Co-director, The Ecosystems Center Marine Biological Laboratory
Alan Miller ’76—Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, The Los Angeles Times, Washington bureau
Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02—Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of the musical In the Heights
Donna Morea ’76— President, American Management Systems
C. Richard (Rick) Nicita ’67—Co-chairman, Creative Artists Agency
Alix Olson ’97—Award-winning slam poet and performance artist-activist
Michael Palmer ’64, MD—Medical mystery writer (Flashback, Extreme Measures, Natural Causes, The Fifth Vial and other best-sellers)
Caroline Parkhurst Rosser ’92—Novelist (The Dogs of Babel, Lost and Found)
Andrew Parkinson ’80 and Thomas Parkinson ’82—Founders, Peapod, Inc.
Zak Penn ’90—Screenwriter (Fantastic Four, X Men: The Last Stand, PCU); director (Incident at Loch Ness, The Grand)
Randall Pinkston ’72—Emmy Award–winning television journalist; correspondent, CBS News
Ellen Prager ’84—Marine and earth scientist; president, Earth 2 Ocean, Inc.
Amy Radin ’79—Chief innovation officer, Global Consumer Group, Citigroup, Inc
David Rhodes ’68—President, School for the Visual Arts
John Rice ’74—President and CEO, Unilever
Mary Roach ’81—Author (Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Spook)
Dennis Robinson ’79—Senior vice president, National Basketball Association
Bill Rodgers ’70—Renowned runner, winner of four New York and four Boston marathons
Barbara Roessner ’75—Managing editor, The Hartford Courant
Tom Rogers ’76—President and CEO, TiVo
Jessica Sanders ’99—Documentary filmmaker (After Innocence)
Paul Schiff ’81—Film producer (My Cousin Vinny, Rushmore, Mona Lisa Smile, The Air I Breathe)
Peter Schube ’81—President and COO, Jim Henson Company
Jonathan Schwartz ’87—President and CEO, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Hon. Anthony Scirica ’62—Circuit judge, United States Court of Appeals, Third District (Philadelphia, PA)
Larry Selzer ’82—President and CEO, The Conservation Fund
Sara Shandler ’02—Author of Ophelia Speaks: Adolescent Girls Write About Their Search for Self
Theodore Shaw ’76—Professor of professional practice at Columbia Law School
Alan Shestack ’60—Deputy director, National Gallery of Art
Marc Shmuger ’80—Chairman, Universal Pictures
Randy Siegel ’83—President and publisher, Parade magazine
David Skaggs ’64—Executive director, Department of Higher Education, Colorado, and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education; U.S. Congressman 1987–99
Jonathan Spector ’78—CEO, The Conference Board
Wendy Spero ’97—Comedian, actress, and author (Who’s Your Daddy?, Microthrills)
Mark Steinmetz ’82—Photographer; books include Tuscan Trees and South Central
C. Sumner (Chuck) Stone ’48—Professor of journalism at University of North Carolina
Tierney Sutton ’86—Jazz singer
Beverly Daniel Tatum ’75—President, Spelman College; author of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
Johnny Temple ’88—Publisher, Akashic Books
Craig Thomas ’97—Co-creator and writer of television show How I Met Your Mother
Philip Trager ’56—Photographer; books include Villas of Palladio, Dancers, Changing Paris: A Tour Along the Seine, and Faces
Stephen Trask ’89—Composer and lyricist of the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch; film composer (Camp, The Station Agent, In Good Company, The Savages)
Hon. Stephen Trott ’62—Senior judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
Jon Turteltaub ’85—Film director (Phenomenon, While You Were Sleeping, National Treasure); creator of television drama Jericho
Laura Walker ’79—President and CEO, WNYC (nation’s largest public radio station)
Roger Weisberg ’75—Award-winning documentary filmmaker (Road Scholar, Sound and Fury, Why Can't We Be a Family Again?, Aging Out)
Paul Weitz ’88—Film director, In Good Company, American Dreamz (and with brother Chris Weitz, American Pie, About a Boy)
Joss Whedon ’87—Creator, producer, director, and writer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly; screenwriter for Speed and Toy Story
Mike White ’92—Screenwriter (Chuck and Buck, The Good Girl, School of Rock, Nacho Libre); director (Year of the Dog)
Bradley Whitford ’81—Film and television actor (The West Wing—Emmy award, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Billy Madison, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants)
Dar Williams ’89—Folksinger
Christopher Wink ’83—Founder of the Blue Man Group
Frank Wood ’84—Tony award-winning actor
John Woodhouse ’53—Senior chairman, Sysco Corporation
Michael Yamashita ’71—Photographer, National Geographic; books include Marco Polo: A Photographer’s Journey, Zheng He: Tracing the Epic Voyages of China’s Greatest Explorer
John Yang ’80—Correspondent, NBC News
Strauss Zelnick ’79&m—Founder and president, ZelnickMedia
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