List of Claremont McKenna College people explained

This list of notable people associated with Claremont McKenna College includes matriculating students, alumni, attendees, faculty, trustees, and honorary degree recipients of Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California.

Notable alumni

Politics

Name	Class year	Notability	Degree	Reference
Steve Bullock	Class of 1988	Governor of Montana (2013–present); Attorney General of Montana (2009–2013); Democrat	B.A.	^[1]
Ken Cheuvront	Class of 1983	Member, Arizona State Senate; Democrat	B.A.	^[2]
Patrick J. Conroy	Class of 1972	60th Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives	B.A.	^[3]
Chuck DeVore	Class of 1985	Member, California State Assembly, candidate for U.S. Senate; Republican	B.A.
David Dreier	Class of 1975	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California and Chairman of the House Rules Committee; Republican	B.A.
Johnny Ellis	Class of 1982	Minority Leader, Alaska State Senate; Democrat	B.A.
Sean Elsbernd	Class of 1997	Member, San Francisco Board of Supervisors; Democrat	B.A.
Thomas B. Hofeller		Political consultant	B.A.	^[4]
Rob Hurtt	Class of 1966	California State Senate Republican Leader, 1995–1998	B.A.
Adam Kokesh	Class of 2006	Political activist, talk radio host	B.A.
Tom Leppert	Class of 1977	Former chief executive officer of Kaplan, Inc, mayor of Dallas, Texas (2007–2011)	B.A.
Tyler Olson	Class of 1998	House member for the 38th district of Iowa	B.A.	^[5]
Surin Pitsuwan	Class of 1972	Secretary-General, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, former Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs	B.A.
Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah	Class of 1978	Prime Minister of the State of Kuwait	B.A.
Simon Salinas	Class of 1978	Monterey County Supervisor, former member of the California State Assembly	B.A.

Business

Name	Class year	Notability	Degree	Reference
Michael Arrington	Class of 1992	Internet entrepreneur, founder of Techcrunch, co-founder of CrunchFund	B.A.
Sloane Citron	Class of 1978	Magazine publisher	B.A.
Robert Addison Day		Former chairman and chief executive officer of Trust Company of the West; chairman and President of the W. M. Keck Foundation	B.A.
Michael S. Jeffries	Class of 1966	Chairman and CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch Co.	B.A.
Michael Larson	Class of 1980	Chief investment officer of Cascade Investment, the investment vehicle for the Gates Foundation and the Gates' personal wealth	B.A.
Patrick Lencioni	Class of 1987	Best-selling management book author, corporate speaker	B.A.
Tom Leppert	Class of 1977	Former chief executive officer of Kaplan, Inc, mayor of Dallas, Texas (2007–2011)	B.A.
Ihab "Joe" Massoud	Class of 1989	Private investor, managing director of Anholt USA, founder and former CEO of Compass Diversified Holdings	B.A.
Ashwin Navin	Class of 1999	President and co-founder of BitTorrent, Inc., founder of The Claremont Independent	B.A.
Augie Nieto	Class of 1980	Founder of Life Fitness and Augie's Quest	B.A.
Douglas Peterson	Class of 1980	S&P Global president and CEO	B.A.	^[6]
Thomas Pritzker	Class of 1972	Executive chairman, Hyatt Corporation	B.A.	^[7]
George R. Roberts	Class of 1966	Founding partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.	B.A.
		Chief executive officer of Accenture	B.A.
Peter Thum	Class of 1990	Founder of Ethos Water, and social entrepreneur	B.A.
Peter Weinberg	Class of 1979	CEO of Goldman Sachs 1999–2005, founder of Perella Weinberg Partners	B.A.

Academia

Name	Class year	Notability	Degree	Reference
Orley Ashenfelter	Class of 1964	Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics at Princeton University; former editor of the American Economic Review	B.A.
Tibor R. Machan	Class of 1965	Former editor of Reason magazine, Stanford Hoover Institution fellow and professor at Chapman University	B.A.
Vincent Phillip Muñoz	Class of 1993	Tocqueville Associate Professor of Religion & Public Life in the Department of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame	B.A.	^[8]
Harriet Nembhard	Class of 1988	President of Harvey Mudd College, 2023–
Jack L. Stark	Class of 1957	Former CMC president	B.A.
Francisco Vázquez	Class of 1972	Professor and director of the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies at Sonoma State University	B.A.

Entertainment

Name	Class year	Notability	Degree	Reference
Paul Brickman	Class of 1971	Screenwriter, producer, and filmmaker; directed and wrote the screenplay for Risky Business	B.A.	^[9]
Mason Gordon	Class of 1997	Inventor of SlamBall	B.A.	^[10]
John King	Class of 1986	Half of the music-producing duo The Dust Brothers	B.A.
Douglas Day Stewart	Class of 1962	Screenwriter of An Officer and a Gentleman	B.A.	^[11]
	Class of 1972	Vice President of Baseball Operations, Assistant General Manager of the Kansas City Royals	B.A.	^[12]
Claire Thomas	Class of 2007	Food blogger and presenter of Food for Thought on Food Network	B.A.

Military

Name	Class year	Notability	Degree	Reference
William W. Crouch	Class of 1963	Retired United States Army four-star general; former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army	B.A.
Ron Ridenhour	Class of 1972	My Lai massacre whistleblower, Vietnam War whistleblower	B.A.

Writing and journalism

Name	Class year	Notability	Degree	Reference
David Enrich	Class of 2001	Reporter, Wall Street Journal	B.A.	^[13]
	Class of 1977	Anchor, Fox News Channel	B.A.
Michael D. Shear	Class of 1990	White House Correspondent, New York Times	B.A.	^[14]

Dropouts and transfers

Name	Class year	Notability	Degree	Reference
Mike Feuer	N/A	Los Angeles City Attorney, former California Assemblyman and L.A. City Councilman (transferred to Harvard, where he got his BA and JD)	N/A
Blake Gottesman	N/A	Personal aide to President George W. Bush	N/A
Wes Parker	N/A	Baseball player, Los Angeles Dodgers	N/A
		Actor and comedian	N/A	^[15]

Notable faculty

• William Ascher - Donald C. McKenna Professor of Government and Economics; dean of the faculty 2000–2005; prolific author; winner of the G. David Huntoon, Sr., Award for Superior Teaching
• Fred Balitzer - professor of government; director of the Republican National Committee under President Ronald Reagan, chairman of Scholars for Reagan-Bush in 1984, and special emissary to the Sultan of Brunei; helped bring about diplomatic relations with China and Israel and played a leading role in preventing efforts to make the District of Columbia a state
• Roderic Ai Camp - McKenna Professor of the Pacific Rim; author of 34 books on Mexico and Latin America; founding member of the Advisory Board, Mexico Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center, Smithsonian Institution, 2003–present; elected member of the Council on Foreign Relations, New York; Global Scholar, Woodrow Wilson Center, 2017–present; recipient of the Medal of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor bestowed to a foreigner for his contributions to Mexico
• Ross Eckert - professor of economics who dedicated his life to cleaning up the blood supply; worked on market-incentives to reduce congestion; worked to rescue the U.S. Laws of the Sea from degradation (deceased)
• Ward Elliott - researched market solutions to Los Angeles smog problem; drafted the economic-incentives of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990
• Diane Halpern - former president of the American Psychological Association
• Eric Helland - Professor of Economics, Senior Staff Economist, President's Council of Economic Advisers (2003–2004)
• Alan Heslop - government consultant, founding director of the Rose Institute, felon, and former dean of faculty^{[16] [17]}
• Harry V. Jaffa - professor of political philosophy, scholar of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Aristotelian virtue, and the American founding; The National Review described Jaffa as "the foremost contemporary interpreter of the American political tradition"
• Charles Kesler - editor of the Claremont Review of Books and noted conservative scholar
• Jamaica Kincaid - novelist
• Kenneth P. Miller - professor of Government specializing in California politics, direct democracy, and state constitutional law; associate director of the Rose Institute of State and Local Government
• Jonathan Petropoulos - historian and scholar of Holocaust-era looted art^[18]
• Mort Sahl - speechwriter for President John F. Kennedy; famed comedian
• Michael Uhlmann - former Assistant Attorney General to President Gerald Ford; special assistant to President Ronald Reagan; reportedly convinced Justice Clarence Thomas to join the federal judiciary

Notes and References

1. Web site: Steve Bullock The Institute of Politics at Harvard University . 2024-06-21 . iop.harvard.edu . en.
2. Web site: Judge Ken Cheuvront . 2024-06-21 . www.justicecourts.maricopa.gov.
3. Web site: saint pio foundation . Saint Pio Foundation.
4. News: Wines. Michael. 2018-08-21. Thomas Hofeller, Republican Master of Political Maps, Dies at 75. en-US. The New York Times. 2020-04-26. 0362-4331.
5. Web site: Tyler Olson Biography . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110728140042/http://www.tylerolson.org/content.asp?ID=3491. July 28, 2011. March 27, 2010.
6. Web site: Investor Relations Overview - S&P Global.
7. News: 2009-03-11.
   1. 559 Thomas Pritzker - The World's Billionaires 2009
   . Forbes.com.
8. Web site: Vincent Phillip Muñoz. Department of Political Science. University of Notre Dame. March 29, 2017.
9. News: Movies: Biography forPaul Brickman. https://web.archive.org/web/20121102090808/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/82995/Paul-Brickman/biography. dead. Movies & TV Dept.. The New York Times. Sandra Brennan. 2012. 2012-11-02.
10. Web site: The latest cultural evolution of SlamBall. Insidesocal.com. 14 June 2015.
11. Web site: Claremont McKenna College - Academic Experience, Past Performance, Policies, Academic Calendar Apply4Admissions.com. Apply4admissions.com. 14 June 2015.
12. Web site: Kansas City Royals: Front Office. Kansascity.royals.mlb.com. 14 June 2015.
13. Web site: Charlie Rose - charlierose.com. Charlierose.com. 14 June 2015.
14. Web site: Michael D. Shear - The New York Times. www.nytimes.com. en. 2020-04-26.
15. The Playboy Interviews: The Comedians, edited by Stephen Randall, 2007, p.342
16. News: Nelson . Joe . Rose Institute founder sentenced in bribery, kickback case . 1 September 2020 . San Bernardino Sun . 30 June 2014.
17. News: Gruszecki . Debra . Former professor sentenced to 21 months for scheme to siphon Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians funds . 1 September 2020 . Press Enterprise . 11 July 2014.
18. News: Prof ensnared in case of Pissarro looted by Nazis. Mike. Boehm. Los Angeles Times. 2008-04-15. 2008-07-27.