# List of Claremont McKenna College people

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 |
| Steve Bullock | Class of 1988 | Governor of Montana (2013–2021); Attorney General of Montana (2009–2013); Democrat | B.A. |
| Ken Cheuvront | Class of 1983 | Member, Arizona State Senate; Democrat | B.A. |
| Patrick J. Conroy | Class of 1972 | 60th Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives | B.A. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |

### Nonprofit

| Name | Class year | Notability | Degree | Reference |
| Hugh Gallagher | | Disability advocate, drafted the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 | B.A. | |

### Business

| Name | Class year | Notability | Degree |
| 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. |
| Thomas Pritzker | Class of 1972 | Executive chairman, Hyatt Corporation | B.A. |
| George R. Roberts | Class of 1966 | Founding partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. | B.A. |
| Julie Sweet | | 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. |
| Timothy Reynolds | Class of 1988 | Founding Partner, Jane Street Capital. CEO ANI Properties and Founder of The Reynolds Foundation. | B.A. |

### Academia

| Name | Class year | Notability | Degree |
| 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. |
| 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 |
| Paul Brickman | Class of 1971 | Screenwriter, producer, and filmmaker; directed and wrote the screenplay for Risky Business | B.A. |
| Mason Gordon | Class of 1997 | Inventor of SlamBall | B.A. |
| 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. |
| Dean Taylor | Class of 1972 | Vice President of Baseball Operations, Assistant General Manager of the Kansas City Royals | B.A. |
| 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 |
| David Enrich | Class of 2001 | Reporter, Wall Street Journal | B.A. |
| Gregg Jarrett | Class of 1977 | Anchor, Fox News Channel | B.A. |
| Michael D. Shear | Class of 1990 | White House Correspondent, New York Times | B.A. |

### Dropouts and transfers

| Name | Class year | Notability | Degree |
| 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 |
| Robin Williams | | Actor and comedian | N/A |

## 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
* 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
* 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