John L. Hennessy

John Hennessy smiling and wearing a dark suit, white shirt and red tie

John L. Hennessy

John Hennessy served as Stanford's tenth president from 2000 – 2016.

Latest updates

John L. Hennessy Named as the Recipient of the 2026 Marconi Society Lifetime Achievement Award

The 2026 Marconi Society Lifetime Achievement Award honors John L. Hennessy for his contributions to and positive impact on the field of communications and to the development of the careers of others.

June 11, 2026
Knight-Hennessy Scholars announces 2026 cohort of 87 new scholars, the most global cohort to date

The 2026 cohort of Knight-Hennessy scholars represents 31 countries and 45 graduate degree programs across Stanford University.

May 12, 2026
Stanford Merges AI and Data Science Efforts Under Single Institute

Former Stanford president John Hennessy and HAI founding director Fei-Fei Li will serve as co-chairs of Stanford HAI's advisory council.

May 05, 2026

About John L. Hennessy

John L. Hennessy is the Co-Founder and Shriram Family Director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars, the largest fully endowed graduate-level scholarship program in the world. He is Chairman of the Board of Alphabet and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Formerly the tenth President of Stanford University, he is also a computer scientist who co-founded MIPS Computer Systems and Atheros Communications. He co-won the National Academy of Engineering’s Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering in 2022; shared the 2017 ACM A.M. Turing Prize with Dave Patterson; and received the 2012 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Medal of Honor.

See also
Knight-Hennessy Scholars