The list below includes a sampling of the many alumni who are leaders in their respective fields. The list is abridged - only a representative few are listed.
Athletics
John Heisman 1891 - Football coach, Heisman Trophy named for him
Fritz Pollard '19 - First African-American to be named a college All-American back; first African-American quarterback in the NFL; recently inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame.
Mark Donohue '59 - Indianapolis 500 champion racecar driver
Curt Bennett '70 - NHL hockey player
Bill Almon '75 - 14-year career as a Major League Baseball shortstop
Steve Jordan '82 - Six-time Pro Bowl tight end for the Minnestoa Vikings
George Pyne '89 - President, IMG Sports & Entertainment
Sean Morey '99 - Arizona Cardinals/Pittsburgn Steelers, Super Bowl XL Champion
Zak DeOssie '07 - New York Giants, 2-time Pro Bowl selection
James Develin '10 - New England Patriots, Super Bowl Champions 2014
Business
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. 1897 - Philanthropist
Thomas J. Watson '37 - Chairman of the Board of IBM; U. S. Ambassador to Russia
Bill Wirtz '50 - President and owner of the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks
Artemis Joukowsky '55 - Businessman, philanthropist, former Brown chancellor
Ted Turner '60 - Sailing champion; creator of CNN, TNT and TBS cable stations
John Sculley '61 - Apple Computer
Janet Yellen '67 - Chairman, Federal Reserve
Timothy Forbes '76 - CEO, Forbes, Inc.
Tom Rothman '76 - Chairman, Sony Motion Pictures
Andre' Leon Talley '74 - A.M., Vogue, editor at large
Jeffrey Swartz '82 - CEO, Timberland
Tom Scott '90 and Tom First '89 - Founders and chairmen, Nantucket Nectars
Matt Dunn '92 - Executive director, AmeriCorps*VISTA
Meredith Whitney '92 –Financial Analyst, CEO, Meredith Whitney Associates
Education
Horace Mann 1819 - Called "Father of American public education."
Vernon Alden '45 - President, Ohio University
Frank Newman '47 - President, URI; president, Education Commission of States
Film, Stage, Television
Robin Green '67 - Screenwriter for The Sopranos
James Naughton '67 - Broadway, television, and film actor/singer; Tony Award winner (Chicago)
Jobeth Williams '70 -Actress, Kramer vs. Kramer, Poltergeist, The Big Chill
Debra Lee '76 - President Black Entertainment Television (BET)
Scott Anderson '86 - Oscar-winning special effects (Babe, 1995)
Laura Linney '86 - Actress; Oscar nominee (Kinsey); Mystic River, The Truman Show
Doug Liman '88 - Director/producer (Swingers, The Bourne Identity)
Julie Bowen '91 - Actress (Happy Gilmore, Ed, Modern Family)
Nilo Cruz, M.F.A '94 - Playwright; Pulitzer Prize-winner for drama
John Krasinski '02 – Actor (The Office, Leatherheads)
Emma Watson '14 - Actress (Harry Potter series, This Is the End)
Government
John Hay 1858 - Secretary of State; secretary to Abraham Lincoln; ambassador to England
Charles Evans Hughes 1881 - Supreme Court Justice; Presidential candidate in 1916; Governor of New York
Louis Redding '23 - lawyer and civil rights pioneer
Philip Noel '54 - Governor of Rhode Island
Donald L. Carcieri '65 - Governor of Rhode Island
Ira Magaziner '69 - Co-author and prime mover behind Brown's 1969 "New Curriculum;" senior advisor to President Clinton
Kenneth Starr '69 A.M. - Federal appeals-court judge
Lincoln Chafee '75 - United States Senator and Governor, Rhode Island
David Cicilline '83 - United States Congressman
Patrick Lynch '87 - Rhode Island Attorney General
Bobby Jindal '92 - Governor of Louisiana
History
Winthrop Jordan '60 - Ph.D, historian and National Book Award-winning author (White Over Black, 1968)
Lawrence Small '63 - Secretary (head), the Smithsonian Institution
Journalism & Broadcasting
Irving R. Levine '44 - NBC Chief Economics Correspondent
Cathleen McGuigan '71 - Senior editor, Newsweek
Chris Berman '77 - ESPN anchor, 12 CableACE awards; earned 7 Emmy awards; two-time Sportscaster of the Year
John F. Kennedy, Jr. '83 - Publisher, George Magazine
Alison Stewart '88 - MSNBC News Correspondent; former MTV News Anchor; Peabody Award winner
David Rohde '90 - Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, The New York Times
Literature
Nathanael West '24 - Writer, Author, "The Day of the Locust"
S.J. Perelman '23 - Writer, humorist; scriptwriter for Marx Brothers movies
Alfred Uhry '58 - Pulitzer Prize winning author of "Driving Miss Daisy"
Jeff Eugenides '82 - Novelist (Middlesex, The Virginia Suicides), Pulitzer Prize-winner for fiction
Music
Mary Chapin Carpenter '81 - Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter
Dorsey James '83 - Senior vice president, Arista Records
Craig Kallman '87 - President, Big Beat Records; executive vice president, Atlantic Records
Lisa Loeb '90 - Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter
Duncan Sheik '92 - Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter
Nate Albert '02 - Guitarist, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Science/Mathematics Technology/Medicine
William W. Keen 1859 - Surgeon, performed first successful operation for a brain tumor in the United States
John Tukey '37 Sc.M. - mathematician, "the father of computer software
Thomas O. Paine '42 - head of NASA during the first U.S. moon landing
Jane Kates Pincus '59 - co-writer of the best-selling Our Bodies, Ourselves
Katheryn Scott Fuller '69 - President and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund
Byron Lichtenberg '69 - First civilian scientist to travel in space