You are here: American University Alumni About Notable Alumni

Notable Alumni

Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle

From heads of state to pillars of the community, AU has a surplus of notable alumni. AU graduates continue a legacy of transforming ideas into impact across the globe.

We know it's impossible to capture all worthy stories in one place, but here we share some of the many contributions made by AU's changemaking graduates.

Ann Beattie, CAS/BA ’69
Novelist

Lonnie Bunch, CAS/BA ’74, CAS/MA ’76
14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

John Fahey, CAS/BA ’62^
Musician

Dominic Giampaolo, CAS/BS ’91
Software Engineer, Developer of the Be File System

Irene Glowinski, CAS/BS ’75
Former Deputy Director, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Disease, NIAID, National Institutes of Health

Edmund Gordon, SPA/MA ’50
Co-architect, Federal Head Start Program, professor of Psychology Emeritus of Yale University and Interim Dean at Teachers College, Columbia University

Donald Harward, CAS/MA ’63
Sixth President, Bates College

Monica Jeffries Hazangeles, CAS/MA ’96
President and CEO, Strathmore

Cornelius Kerwin, SPA/BA ’71
14th President of American University

Dr. Carol Leary, CAS/PhD ’88 
President Emerita, Bay Path University

Carmen Maria Machado, CAS/BA ’07
Finalist for the National Book Award; Author, Her Body and Other Parties 

Dambisa Moyo, CAS/BS ’91, Kogod/MBA ’92
Economist; Author; Member, House of Lords

Brittany Packnett Cunningham, SOE/MAT ’09
Activist, Educator, Writer, Leader

Becca Peixotto, CAS/MA ’13, CAS/PhD ’17
Archaeologist

Lara Prescott, SPA/BA ’04
Author of New York Times bestseller The Secrets We Kept

Margo Seibert, SIS/BA ’05
Drama Desk Award-nominated Actress; the original Adrian in Broadway's Rocky the Musical

Jeff Sine, SIS/BA ’76
Co-Founder and Partner, Raine; Broadway Producer; three-time Tony Award winner

Molly Smith, CAS/MA ’76
Former Artistic Director, Arena Stage

Dana Thomas, SOC/BA ’88
Author of New York Times bestseller Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster

John Wineglass, CAS/BA ’94
Emmy Award-winning composer

Tanekeya Word, CAS/MA ’11
Visual Artist

^ deceased

Facundo Bacardi, Kogod/BSBA ’90
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Bacardi Limited

Mark Bucher, SPA/BA ’90
Co-Founder, Medium Rare Steak Frites

Michael Chasen, CAS/BS ’93
Co-Founder and Former CEO, Blackboard Inc.; Founder and CEO, Class

Mong-Yong Chung, Kogod/MBA ’91
Chairman, Hyundai Sungwoo Holdings

Richard Clark, Kogod/MBA ’70
Former President and CEO, Merck & Co.

Gary Cohn, Kogod/BSBA ’82
Vice Chairman, IBM

Francesco Vanni d’Archirafi, Kogod/BS ’81
Chairman, Euroclear Group 

Dean Factor, Kogod/BSBA ’87
CEO and Co-Founder, Smashbox Cosmetics and Smashbox Studios

Marco Gobbetti, Kogod/BSBA ’81
CEO, Salvatore Ferragamo; Former CEO, Burberry

Wilbert Hopper, CAS/BS ’56^
Former President and CEO, Petro-Canada

Jesse Itzler, SPA/BA ’90
Entrepreneur, Author, Owner of the Atlanta Hawks

Robert Kogod, Kogod/BS ’62
Former Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Charles E. Smith companies

Almar Latour, SOC/MA ’96
CEO, Dow Jones

Dambisa Moyo, CAS/BS ’91, Kogod/MBA ’92, Hon. DHL ’22 
Economist; Author; Member, House of Lords

Nicole Nason, SPA/BA ’92
Vice President of Federal Affairs for Commercial Aviation, Sustainability, and Corporate Policy at Boeing; Former Director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Jeff Perkins, SPA/BA ’96
Chief Marketing Officer, Greenlight Guru

Michael Santomassimo, Kogod/BS ’96
Chief Financial Officer, Wells Fargo

David Steward II, Kogod/BS ’98
CEO, Polarity; CEO, Lion Forge Animation

Gary Veloric, Kogod/BS ’82
Founder, The Red Stripe Plane Group 

Cheong Ee Wee, Kogod/BS ’77
CEO, United Overseas Bank

^ deceased

Caroline Aaron, CAS/BA ’74
Actress and Producer; Shirley Maisel in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Max Brooks, SOC/MA ’97
Author and Actor

Patrick Butler, SOC/MA ’96
President and CEO, America’s Public Television Stations (APTS)

Alisyn Camerota, SOC/BA ’88
Anchor/Correspondent, CNN; Author

Neil Cavuto, SOC/MA ’82
Fox News Commentator, Author of Your Money or Your Life

Elizabeth Chomko, CAS/BA ’04
Actor, Director, Playwright, Screenwriter

Susan Davis, CAS/BA ’01
Congressional Correspondent, NPR; Co-host, NPR Politics Podcast

Meg DeLoatch, CAS/BA ’90
Former Executive Producer, CBS’s The Neighborhood

Patricia de Stacy Harrison, CAS/BA ’68 
President and CEO, Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Former Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs

Bob Edwards, SOC/MA ’72^
First Host of NPR’s Morning Edition, Former Host of The Bob Edwards Show, Former Host of NPR’s All Things Considered, Peabody Award winner

Richard Ernest Thompson, CAS/BA ’71
Playwright, On Golden Pond; Academy Award Winner

Hallie Eisenberg, SPA/BA ’14
Actress

Darryl Frank, SOC/MA ’91
Co-President and Executive Producer, Amblin Television; Former Co-head, Dreamworks Television

Pauline Frederick, BA ’30, MA^
Pioneering woman in American journalism, reporter for ABC Radio and correspondent for ABC TV, where in 1946 she was promoted as first and only woman in television news

Danielle Gelber, SIS/MA ’82
President and Founder, Acoustic Productions; Former Executive Vice President, Wolf Films and NBC Universal; Former Senior Vice President, Showtime; Former Senior Vice President, FOX

Eric Gertler, WCL/JD ’90
Executive Chairman and CEO, US News and World Report

David Gregory, SIS/BA ’91
CNN Political Analyst, Former moderator of NBC's Meet the Press, Former Chief White House Correspondent, NBC News

Goldie Hawn, att ’63-64, HD ’02
Academy Award-winning Actress

Clark Howard, SPA/BA ’76
Host of The Clark Howard Show, Author

Star Jones, SPA/BA ’83
Television Personality, Lawyer, Journalist, Fashion Designer, Author, and Women’s and Diversity Advocate

Barry Josephson, SPA/BA ’78
Film Producer (Enchanted, Ladykillers, Like Mike, and FOX TV’s Bones), Former Music Manager, three-time Oscar Nominee

Tom Karsch, SPA/BA ’80
Former Executive Vice President and General Manager, Turner Classic Movies

Pam Kaufman, SOC/BA ’85
President and CEO of International Markets, Global Consumer Products & Experiences, Paramount Global; Former President, ViacomCBS Consumer Products

Florence King, CAS/BA ’57^
Writer for The National Review and best-selling author

Rick Leventhal, SOC/BA ’86
Former Senior Correspondent, Fox News

Barry Levinson, SOC/BA ’67
Director, Film Producer, and Screenwriter; Winner of several Emmys and an Academy Award

Louis Lomax, CAS/MA ’44^
First African American Television Journalist; Author

Barry McCaffrey, SPA/MA ’71
NBC News and MSNBC Military Analyst, Drug Czar under President Bill Clinton, retired US Army General

Ayman Mohyeldin, SIS/BA ’00, 
SIS/MA ’01
Journalist, NBC News and MSNBC; Host, Ayman; Former anchor, Ayman Mohyeldin Reports

Robert Morton, SOC/BA ’75
Former Producer, Late Night with David Letterman; Emmy Award Winner

Nancy Meyers, SOC/BA ’70
Film Writer and Director (The Parent Trap, It’s Complicated, Something’s Gotta Give, What Women Want, Saving Private Ryan, and The Intern)

Sophia Nelson, WCL/JD ’94 
Author, Journalist, CNN Pundit, USA TODAY contributor; Host of “One America” podcast

Ed O’Keefe, SPA/BA ’05
Senior White House and Political Correspondent, CBS News; Former congressional reporter, The Washington Post

Mike O’Meara, SOC/BA ’82
Host, The Mike O’Meara Show, Former Co-Host, Don and Mike Show

Jennifer Palmieri, SPA/BA ’88
Co-Host/Producer Emmy-Nominated SHOWTIME's The Circus; New York Times #1 Best-Selling Author; Former White House Communications Director

Tara Palmeri, SOC/BA ’08 
Senior Political Correspondent for subscription news platform Puck

Nicole Petallides, SOC/BA ’93
Anchor, TD Ameritrade Network; Former Anchor, FOX Business Network

Giuliana Rancic, SOC/MA ’97
Celebrity News Personality, E! Networks; Daytime Emmy Award winner

Kathy Reichs, CAS/BA ’70
Author (Bare Bones, Déjà Dead); Writer/Producer, FOX-TV’s Bones

Janet Rodriguez, SOC/BA ’06
Internal Communications Manager, WhatsApp; Former Fellow, AU's Sine Institute of Policy and Politics

Benjamin Salisbury, SOC/BA ’03
Actor, The Nanny

Suzanne Scott, SPA/BA ’88
CEO, Fox News

Willard Scott, CAS/BA ’55^
Television Personality, The Today Show; Original Creator and Potrayor of Ronald McDonald

Steve Scully, SOC/BA ’82
Host, Sirius XM's The Briefing with Steve Scully; Former Host, Political Editor, Senior Producer, C-SPAN's Washington Journal

Tom Shales, SOC/BA ’67^
Former TV critic, The Washington Post; 1988 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Criticism 

Judy Sheindlin, SPA/BA ’63
Television Court Show Judge, Judge Judy

Cal Thomas, CAS/BS ’77
Former Panelist, Fox News Channel’s Fox News Watch

Ernest Thompson, CAS/BA ’71
Playwright, Actor, Academy Award Winner

Cecilia Vega, SOC/BA ’99
Emmy Award-winning journalist; Correspondent, 60 Minutes

Charlie Wachtel, SOC/BA ’08
Co-Writer, BlacKkKlansman; Academy Award Winner

Kenneth Walsh, SOC/MA ’70
White House Correspondent, US News & World Report; Former president of the White House Correspondents’ Association; author 

Russell Williams II, SOC/BA ’74
Production Sound Mixer; two-time Academy Award Winner (first African American to win two Academy Awards in any category); Professor and Distinguished Artist in Residence, American University

Brian Wilson, SOC/MA ’97
Former Anchor and Reporter, Fox News

Trey Yingst, SOC/BA ’16
Foreign Correspondent, Fox News

Susan Zirinsky, SOC/BA ’74
President, See It Now Sttudios; Former President and Senior Executive Producer, CBS News; inspiration for Holly Hunter’s character in the film Broadcast News

^ deceased

Pongpol Adireksarn, SIS/MA ’66
Former Deputy Prime Minister, Kingdom of Thailand

Liliana Ayalde, SIS/BA ’78
Former United States Ambassador to Brazil

Justin Bibb, SPA/BA ’09
Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio

Julius Maada Bio, SIS/BA ’99, SIS/MIS ’01
President, Sierra Leone

Walter Boomer, Kogod/MS ’73
Marine Corps General and Commanding Officer of all Marines in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm

Muriel Bowser, SPA/MPP ’00
Mayor, Washington, DC

Terrence Boyle, WCL/JD ’70
Former Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina

Julia Brownley, Kogod/MBA ’79
US Representative for California’s 26th Congressional District

Chaturon Chaisang, CAS/MA ’90
Former Minister of Justice, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Education, Thailand

Allen Michael Chastanet, CAS/MA ’90
Former Prime Minister, Saint Lucia

Sam Cho, SIS/BA ’13
Commission President, Port of Seattle;  Director of Strategic Initiatives, Office of the Mayor, City of Seattle, Washington 

John B. Craig, SIS/BA ’67
Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Combating Terrorism under President George W. Bush, Former United States Ambassador to Oman

Arturo Cruz, Jr., SIS/BA ’74
Former Ambassador of Nicaragua to the United States

Amy Dacey, SPA/MA ’95
Executive Director, AU’s Sine Institute of Policy & Politics; Former CEO, Democratic National Committee

Cari Dominguez, SIS/BA ’71,
 SIS/MA ’77
12th Chair of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Kenneth Duberstein, SPA/MA ’66^
White House Chief of Staff under President Ronald Reagan

David Dunn, SIS/MA ’74
Former United States Ambassador to Togo and Zambia

Iván Duque Márquez, WCL/LLM ’04
Former President of Colombia

Norm Early, SPA/BA ’67^ 
Colorado’s First Black District Attorney

Adam Ebbin, SPA/BA ’85
First Openly Gay State Senator (Virginia) 

Murat Salim Esenli, SPA/BA ’84
Ambassador from Turkey to Italy, Former Ambassador from Turkey to China

Eileen Filler-Corn, WCL/JD ’93
56th (and first woman) Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates

Arthur Flemming, SPA/MA ’28^
Former United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare

Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, Kogod/MA ’02
Former Prime Minister, Guinea

Quentin Fulks, SPA/MA ’15 
Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Biden/ Harris 2024

Marc Ginsberg, SPA/BA ’73
Former United States Ambassador to Morocco

Christopher 
Goldthwait, SIS/BA ’71
Former United States Ambassador to Chad

Reno Harnish, SIS/MA ’75
Former United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan

Shammara Henderson, CAS/BA ’04 
Judge, New Mexico Court of Appeals; first African American woman to serve on New Mexico's Court of Appeals

Claude Hilton, WCL/JD ’66
Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

Lawrence Hogan Sr., SOC/MA ’66^
Former US Representative for Maryland’s 5th Congressional District

Yumi Hogan, CAS/MFA ’10
Former First Lady of Maryland

Cameron Hume, WCL/JD ’75
Former United States Ambassador to Algeria, South Africa, and Indonesia

Hubert Horatio “Skip” Humphrey III, SPA/BA ’65
Former politician, son of United States Vice President Hubert Humphrey

Herman Jay Cohen, SIS/MA ’62
Former United States Ambassador to Gambia and Senegal, Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

Petra Kelly, SIS/BA ’70^
Founder, Germany’s Green Party

Sheik Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, SPA/BA ’92
Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Bahrain

John Albert Knebel, WCL/JD ’65
United States Secretary of Agriculture under President Gerald Ford

Koko Kondo (born Tanimoto), CAS/BA ’69
Prominent atomic bomb survivor (Hiroshima), international peace activist

Patricia Laverley, SIS/BA ’93 
Deputy Minister of Finance, Republic of Sierra Leone

Lori Lightfoot, WSP ’83
Former Mayor of Chicago; First LGBTQ+ Black woman elected mayor of a major US city

Nizar Bin Obaid Madani, SIS/MA ’71, SIS/PhD ’77
Former Deputy Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Juan Mari Bras, WCL/JD ’54^
Founder, Puerto Rican Socialist Party

Betsy Markey, SPA/MA ’83
Former Executive Director, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade; Former US Representative, Colorado’s 4th Congressional District; Former Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs, US Department of Homeland Security

Sarah McBride, SPA/BA ’13
First Openly Transgender State Senator (Delaware)

A. Donald McEachin, SPA/BS ’82

^
US Representative for Virginia’s 4th Congressional District

James McGovern, CAS/BA ’81, SPA/MPA ’84
US Representative for Massachusetts’ 2nd Congressional District

Keith Mitchell, CAS/PhD ’80
Former Prime Minister, Grenada

Connie Morella, CAS/MA ’67
Former United States Ambassador to the OECD, Former US Representative for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District

Jennifer Morgan, SIS/MA ’92
Germany’s first Special Envoy for International Climate Action

Samuel Lewis Navarro, Kogod/MBA ’81
Former First Vice President and Foreign Minister, Panama

Ron Nessen, CAS/BA ’59
White House Press Secretary under President Gerald Ford

Vincent Obsitnik, Kogod/MBA ’69
Former United States Ambassador to Slovakia

Alice Paul, WCL/LLM ’27,
 PhD ’28^
Feminist, Author of the Equal Rights Amendment

Joan Plaisted, SIS/BA ’67, SIS/MA ’69
Former United States Ambassador to Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Kiribati; Former Senior Advisor to the US Ambassador to the United Nations

Stacey Plaskett, WCL/JD ’94
Delegate to the House of Representatives from the US Virgin Islands’ at-large district

Sharon Prost, WCL/JD ’79
Former Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Paul Ryan, WSP ’91 
Former Speaker, US House of Representatives

Omar Samad, SOC/BA ’90
Former Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive of Afghanistan; Former Afghan Ambassador to Canada, then France; Former CNN analyst

Nicholas Sarwark, WCL/JD ’08
Former Chairman, US Libertarian Party

Donna Shalala, WSP ’61
18th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services; Former President, University of Miami; Former US Representative for Florida's 27th Congressional District

Warren Silver, WCL/JD ’73
Former State Supreme Court Justice, Maine

Julianne Smith, SIS/MA ’95 
US Representative to NATO

Sean Spicer, WSP ’92
Former White House Press Secretary

Haley Stevens, SPA/BA ’05, CAS/MA ’07
US Representative for Michigan's 11th Congressional District

Paul Strauss, SPA/BA ’86, WCL/JD ’93
Shadow Senator from the District of Columbia

Kantathi Suphamongkhon, SIS/MA ’78
Former Foreign Minister and Member of Parliament, Kingdom of Thailand

Clyde Taylor, SIS/MA ’61
Former Executive Director of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation; former US Ambassador to Costa Rica; former US Ambassador to Paraguay

Lawrence Palmer Taylor, CAS/MA ’69
Former United States Ambassador to Estonia

Desson Thomson, SOC/BA ’80
White House Speechwriter for President Barack Obama

Richard Verma, WCL/JD ’93
Former United States Ambassador to India

Reggie Walton, WCL/JD ’74
Senior Judge, US District Court for the District of Columbia

Susan Wild, SPA/BA ’78
US Representative for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District

Dessima Williams, SIS/MA ’85
President of the Senate of Grenada, Former Ambassador to the United Nations from Grenada

Curtin Winsor, Jr., SIS/MA ’64, SIS/PhD ’71
Former United States Ambassador to Costa Rica

Yiaway Yeh, SPA/BA ’00
Former City Councilmember and Mayor, Palo Alto, California 

^ deceased

Mark Bergel, CAS/MS ’87, CAS/PhD ’96
Co-Founder, The Shared Humanity Project; Founder, A Wider Circle

Mark Bucher, SPA/BA ’90
Founder, Feed the Fridge and We Care, Inc. 

Ramón Cruz, SIS/BA ’98
President, Sierra Club

Valerie Guarnieri, SIS/MA ’96
Deputy Executive Director for Programme and Policy Development, United Nations World Food Programme

Dan Mathews, CAS/BA ’85 
Former Senior Vice President, PETA; Author

Janethe Peña, SIS/BA ’02 
Founder, Executive Director, and CEO, DC Doors

John Prendergast, SIS/MA ’90 
Founding Director, The ENOUGH Project; Co-founder, The Sentry; Former Director for African Affairs, The National Security Council

Wendy Young, WCL/JD ’88, SIS/MA ’89
President, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)

David Aldridge, SOC/BA ’87
Editor, The Athletic; Former Sportscaster and Columnist, TNT

Nur Ali, SIS/BA ’98
Race Car Driver, ARCA Racing Series

Julie Andreeff Jensen, SPA/BA ’95, WCL/JD ’02
Founder and Co-CEO, Jasper Advisors; Former Senior Vice President for External Engagement and Communications, Washington Commanders

Gabriella Csépe, Kogod/BSBA ’96
Swimmer, 1988 and 1992 Olympics

Andy Dolich, SPA/BA ’69
President, Dolich Consulting; COO, Fan Controlled Football League; Former COO, San Francisco 49ers; Former President and COO, Golden State Warriors; Former Executive Vice President, Oakland Athletics

Jamie Erdahl, SOC/BA ’11
Reporter, NFL Network and CBS Sports

Avram Glazer, WCL/JD ’85
Executive Co-Chairman, Manchester United Football Club; Owner, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Bryan Glazer, SOC/BA ’86
Owner and Co-Chairman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Darcie Glazer Kassewitz, CAS/BA ’90
Owner and President, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation and Glazer Vision Foundation

Joel Glazer, SPA/BA ’89
Owner and Co-Chairman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Josh Glenn, SIS/BA ’08
Professional Wrestler, NCAA Champion, Three-Time All-American

Steven Goldstein, Kogod/BSBA ’93
Race Car Driver, Formula 2000 Champion

Frank Herzog, SPA/BA ’72
Voice of the Washington Redskins, 1979–2004

Sunny Hobbs, SIS/BA ’92
Professional Race Car Driver

Frederik Hviid, CAS/BA ’97
Swimmer, 1996 and 2000 Olympics

Andre Ingram, CAS/BA ’07
Professional Basketball Player, NBA G League; Point Guard, Los Angeles Lakers

Avery John, Kogod/BSBA ’98
Former Professional Soccer Player

Kurt Kuykendall, SPA/BS ’74
Former Professional Soccer Player; subject of the movie For the Glory

Debra Lerner Cohen, CAS/BA ’77
Principal Owner, Washington Nationals

Sergio López Miró, CAS/BS ’92
Bronze Medalist, Swimming, 1988 Olympics

Mark Murphy, Kogod/MBA ’83
President and CEO, Green Bay Packers; Former Safety, Washington Redskins

Penny Vinik, SIS/BA ’84
Co-Owner, Tampa Bay Lightning

Kermit Washington, CAS/BA ’73
Former Professional Basketball Player; First-Round Draft Choice of the Los Angeles Lakers, 1973

Caylee Watson, SPA/BA ’17
Swimmer, 2016 Summer Olympics

Ron Weber, SPA/BA ’54, SPA/MA ’64
Original Voice of the Washington Capitals, 1974-1997; Hockey Hall of Fame, Broadcasters' Wing Honoree

Bram Weinstein, SOC/BA ’95
Voice of The Washington Commanders

ALUMNI AWARDS

Alumni Awards are the highest honors presented by the AU Alumni Association. 

LEARN MORE

DO YOU KNOW NOTABLE ALUMNI?

Share information about notable alumni in your network.

TELL US MORE

AU ALUMNI INCLUDE 7

HEADS OF STATE

FULBRIGHT US SCHOLARS INCLUDED 11

AU ALUMNI DURING THE 2020-21 ACADEMIC YEAR

AU ALUMNI ARE PROUD OWNERS OF 7

ACADEMY AWARDS