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, Youth in Revolt)

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, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)

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; previously superintendant of schools in Denver

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

Ron Bloom ’77—Senior counselor for manufacturing policy for Obama administration and head of the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry

Joshua Boger ’73—Founder and former chairman, president and CEO, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

David Brancaccio ’82—Host of NOW news program, PBS

David Brewster ’95—Co-founder, COO, and president of EnerNOC, Inc., the Energy Network Operations Center

Linda Brinen ’88—Director of structural biology, Sandler Center for Basic Research in Parasitic Diseases, University of California, San Francisco

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; president of The Majora Carter Group, for-profit consulting company; also founder of River Heroes, offering job training

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)

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, Desperate Housewives) and films (Tombstone, Fly Away Home)

Jane Eisner ’77—Editor, The Forward

Toby Emmerich ’85—President and CEO of New Line Cinema

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—Oversees the largest online African American network; author of EARL: The Autobiography of DMX

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.

Jordan Goldman ’04—Founder and CEO of Unigo, an online students’ guide to colleges

Akiva Goldsman ’83—Film producer and screenwriter (A Beautiful Mind—Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, Cinderella Man, The DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons)

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—Former senior vice president, Ford Motor Company; former 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—Executive vice president and general manager, San Diego Padres

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)

Dina Kaplan ’93—Cofounder and COO of Blip TV

Kathryn Keeler ’78—Gold medalist in rowing at ’84 Olympics; Olympics coach in ’96

Herb Kelleher ’53—Founder and former chairman, president and CEO, Southwest Airlines

Thomas Kelly ’73—President and COO, Schaller Anderson, Inc., health management company

Yoriko Kishimoto ’77—City council member and former 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)

Alex Kurtzman ’95—Film and television screenwriter and producer (Alias, Transformers, Fringe, Star Trek [2009])

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, Asians and Pacific Islanders with Disabilities of California

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 (North America)

James Longley ’94—Documentary filmmaker (Iraq in Fragments); recipient of MacArthur Award

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, Julie and Julia)

Paul Mason ’77—Co-founder of Mezclado, an independent television production company; former senior vice president, ABC Inc.

Thomas McKnight ’63—Artist

Mora McLean ’77—President and CEO, Africa-America Institute

Mary McWilliams ’71—Executive director, Puget Sound Health Resources; previously president and CEO, Regence Blue Shield

Jerry Melillo ’65—Co-director, The Ecosystems Center Marine Biological Laboratory

MGMT (Ben Goldwasser ’05 and Andrew Vanwyngarden ’05)—Brooklyn based pop music duo with acclaimed recording, Oracular Spectacular

Alan Miller ’76—Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, formerly with The Los Angeles Times; now founder of the News Literacy Project

Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02—Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of the musical In the Heights

Donna Morea ’76—President of CGI-AMS, leading the development and evolution of CGI’s business in the United States

C. Richard (Rick) Nicita ’67—Co-chairman and COO, Morgan Creek Productions

Michael Palmer ’64, MD—Medical mystery writer (Flashback, Extreme Measures, Natural Causes, The Fifth Vial and other best-sellers)

Sascha Paladino ’98—Documentary filmmaker (Throw Down Your Heart)

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 (The Incredible Hulk, X Men: The Last Stand, PCU); director (Incident at Loch Ness, The Grand)

Nicole Phelps ’94—Executive editor at Style.com

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

Mary Roach ’81—Author (Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Spook)

Dennis Robinson ’79—President and CEO, New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority

Bill Rodgers ’70—Renowned runner, winner of four New York and four Boston marathons

Tom Rogers ’76—President and CEO, TiVo

Paul Schiff ’81—Film producer (My Cousin Vinny, Rushmore, Mona Lisa Smile, Solitary Man)

Peter Schube ’81—President and COO, Jim Henson Company

Amy Schulman ’82—Senior vice president and general counsel for Pfizer

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

Randy Siegel ’83—President and publisher, Parade magazine

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)

Matthew Weiner ’87—Emmy Award-winning creator, writer, executive producer of Mad Men

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, The Vampire’s Assistant (and with brother Chris Weitz, American Pie, About a Boy) and playwright (Privilege, Show People, Trust)

Joss Whedon ’87—Creator, producer, director, and writer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog [Emmy Award]; 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 and Blue Man Creativity Center

Frank Wood ’84—Tony award-winning actor

John Woodhouse ’53—Co-founder, CLW Group; former 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—Founder and president, ZelnickMedia