100 Notable alumni of SUNY at Albany

Michael Patrick Forbes is an American former politician from the state of New York. Forbes represented a Long Island district in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001, first as a Republican (until 1999) and then as a Democrat. He was an influential member of the House Appropriations Committee throughout his tenure on Capitol Hill. Forbes left...

Terry Ronald LaValley is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been serving as the bishop of the Diocese of Ogdensburg in Northern New York since 2010. He is the first native of the Diocese of Ogdensburg to serve as its bishop since 1921.

Lewis A. "Lew" Fidler was an American politician and New York City Councilman. In January 2002, he began his first term representing the 46th district in New York City, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bergen Beach, Canarsie, Georgetown, Flatlands, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Mill Island, Gerritsen Beach, Madison and Sheepshead Bay.

Maureen A. Baginski is a former Signals Intelligence director at the National Security Agency (NSA), and executive assistant director of intelligence at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Hajj Muhammad Legenhausen is an American philosopher and professor of philosophy at the Imam Khomeini's Educational and Research Institute.

Mark C. Walczyk is an American politician and United States Army Reserve officer serving as a member of the New York State Senate for the 49th district since 2023. A Republican, he won the seat in 2022 after serving two terms in the New York State Assembly.

David Ohlmer "Doc" Cooke was a United States Department of Defense civilian administrator who served under twelve Secretaries of Defense over a period of 45 years. Often called the "Mayor of the Pentagon", Cooke was the department's highest-ranking career civil servant as Director of Administration and Management, and as Director of Washington Headquarters Services. He was also responsible for administering...

Peter D. Lopez is a politician who served in the New York State Assembly from the 102nd Assembly District (established in 2012), which includes all of Schoharie County and portions of Chenango, Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Ulster counties from 2007 to 2017. He is a Republican.

Deborah A. Ashenhurst served in the Ohio National Guard for 37 years and now holds a position in the Cabinet of Governor Mike DeWine as the director of the Department Veterans Services. In January 2019, Ashenhurst was appointed as the first female director of the Ohio Department of Veteran Services, which supplies benefits and resources for Ohio's past service members.

Amy R. Paulin was elected to the New York State Assembly in November 2000. She represents the 88th Assembly District. Paulin chairs the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, and serves on the Committees on Rules, Education, and Health. She previously chaired the Assembly Committee on Energy and before that chaired the Committee on Libraries and Education Technology and...

William Orton was an American businessman who served as president of the Western Union Telegraph Company.

Thomas M. Roach Jr. is an American politician and attorney serving as mayor of White Plains, New York. He took office as acting mayor in February 2011 following the resignation of former Mayor Adam Bradley. Roach won a March 2011 special election held to fill the remainder of Bradley's term.

Jeffrey Gerrish is an American lawyer. He previously served as the Deputy United States Trade Representative, Gerrish was previously a partner in the International Trade Group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Gerrish was a member of President Trump's 2016 trade transition team.

John Davis Porcari is an American government official and businessman who served as United States deputy secretary of transportation and Port Envoy to the White House Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force. He was nominated by the Obama administration in April 2009 and confirmed by the Senate on May 21, 2009. Porcari resigned from his position as Deputy Secretary on December...

Karen D. Camper is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing District 87 since her special election March 31, 2008 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Gary Rowe. She was a candidate for the 2023 Memphis mayoral election.

Angelo L. Santabarbara is a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly representing the 111th New York State Assembly District, which comprises areas of Montgomery and Schenectady Counties.

Raymond P. Priore is an American college football coach. He was the head football coach at the University of Pennsylvania from 2015 to 2025. Previously, he was a long-time assistant for Penn spanning 28 years across four decades.

Charles Priore is an American former college football and college lacrosse coach. He was the head coach of the Stony Brook Seawolves for 18 years, from 2006 to 2023. He led Stony Brook to shares of four consecutive Big South Conference titles from 2009 to 2012. Priore coached Stony Brook to its first four FCS playoff appearances. After five consecutive...

Harriet E. Bishop was an American educator, writer, suffragist, and temperance activist. Born in Panton, Vermont, she moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1847. There, she started the first public school as well as the first Sunday school in Minnesota Territory. She was a founding member of temperance, suffrage and civic organizations, and played a central role in establishing the...

Catherine Bertini is an American public servant. She is the 2003 World Food Prize Laureate. She was the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program from 1992 to 2002. She served as the UN Under-Secretary for Management from 2003 to 2005. Currently she is a distinguished fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the chair of the...

Christine T. Kehoe is an American politician from San Diego, California. A Democrat, she served from 2004 to 2012 as a member of the California State Senate, representing the 39th district. She was previously a member of the California State Assembly (2000–2004), and of San Diego City Council (1993–2000).

Kirkland Leroy Irvis was an American educator, activist and politician in Pennsylvania. The first African American to serve as a speaker of the house in any state legislature in the United States since Reconstruction (John Roy Lynch (1847–1939) of Mississippi had been the first African American to hold that position) Irvis was a Democrat who represented Pittsburgh in the Pennsylvania...

Michael Ryan Gottfredson is the former President of the University of Oregon, serving from August 1, 2012 to August 6, 2014.

James A. Symonds is an American retired rear admiral of the United States Navy who last served as Commander, Navy Region Northwest, based in Silverdale, Washington. He was the former commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. He had a prominent, symbolic role in the state funeral of former United States President Ronald Reagan in 2004.

Jeremy Frommer is an American financier and entrepreneur based in New Jersey. His career includes over two decades on Wall Street, working as a hedge fund and portfolio manager, and on the sell-side of the financial industry, building and selling two financial services companies. He is CEO of Jerrick Ventures Inc., a company that acquires, develops and produces content across...

Ahmed Mohamed Ali Al-Madani is a Saudi Arabian academic and the President of the Islamic Development Bank.

George Jason Siggers is an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for New Mexico Junior College and University at Albany before playing professionally in Denmark, Switzerland, France, Israel and South Korea. He is the father of NBA player Keyonte George.

Park Seung is a Korean economist who most recently served as a Governor of the Bank of Korea from 2002 to 2006. Before becoming a governor of the Bank of Korea, he was a professor at Chung-Ang University, a president of Korea Economic Association (1999-2000), a senior secretary to the President for Economic Affairs under the Office of the President,...

Steward Ceus is a Haitian footballer who most recently played as a goalkeeper for New York Cosmos in the National Independent Soccer Association.

Gareb Seth Shamus is an American publisher. He is the founder, former chairman and CEO of Wizard Entertainment. He is also a co-founder and CEO of ACE Comic Con.

Inga Rhonda King is a Saint Vincent and the Grenadines accountant, teacher and publisher who has served as the country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) since September 2013.

Antony Davies is an American economist, speaker, and author. He is an associate professor of economics at Duquesne University and the Milton Friedman Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education.

Jamaal T. Bailey is an American politician from the state of New York. A Democrat, Bailey has served as a member of the New York State Senate from the 36th district since 2017. He represents the Bronx neighborhoods of Baychester, Co-op City, Wakefield, Williamsbridge, and Woodlawn, along with the Westchester County city of Mount Vernon.

Angel Gerardo Suero is a Dominican basketball player. He entered the 2012 NBA draft, but was not selected. Suero is also a member of the Dominican Republic national basketball team.

Richard Carl Wesley is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He previously served on every level of New York's judiciary—including six years on the state's highest court—and represented New York's 136th District in the state legislature.

Bouna Coundoul is a Senegalese former professional footballer who coached New Amsterdam FC in the National Independent Soccer Association. Coundoul played as a goalkeeper. Between 2007 and 2016 he played for the Senegal national team.

Christine A. Varney is an American antitrust attorney who served as the U.S. assistant attorney general of the Antitrust Division for the Obama administration and as a Federal Trade commissioner in the Clinton administration. Since August 2011, Varney has been a partner of the New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where she chairs the antitrust department.

Kazim Ali is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and professor. His most recent books are Inquisition (Wesleyan University Press, 2018) and All One's Blue (Harper Collins India, 2016). His honors include an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. His poetry and essays have appeared in literary journals and magazines including The American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Barrow Street,...

Robert C. Beyer is an American professional basketball coach who is as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Benjamin J. Kallos is an American attorney, politician, and software developer. Co-Chair of the Progressive Caucus and as a member of the Democratic Party, he represented the 5th district of the New York City Council from 2014 to 2021. During his tenure, Kallos was described as applying agile management principles, adapted from software development, to initiatives aimed at improving transparency...

Ellen Datlow is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror editor and anthologist. She is a winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Bram Stoker Award (Horror Writers Association).

Shaomin Li is a Chinese-American sociologist, economist, academic, author, and artist. He is a professor of management and international business, eminent scholar, and chair of the Department of Management at Old Dominion University.

Tehoka Nanticoke is an Iroquois professional lacrosse player who plays for the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) and the Carolina Chaos of the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL). Nanticoke has become popular on the internet due to his trick shots and skill. He is also an assistant coach for the Women's Lacrosse team at Niagara University.

Joseph Grogan is the former director of the United States Domestic Policy Council and assistant to President Donald Trump. Appointed by Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Grogan converted the traditionally small office into an influential policy council.

Harris Pastides is an academic and university administrator who served as the 28th president of the University of South Carolina from 2008 until 2019. In addition to his employment at the university Pastides has been on the board of directors of Synovus, a financial services company. On October 3, 2018, Pastides announced his intention to retire from the presidency of...

Anne Catherine Case, Lady Deaton, is an American economist who is the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, emeritus, at Princeton University.

Jeffrey Glen Jones is an American comics artist who is known for his work on titles such as Wanted and Final Crisis.

Rosa Alicia Clemente is an American community organizer, independent journalist, and hip-hop activist. She was the vice presidential running mate of Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

Ronn D. Torossian is an American public relations executive, founder of New York City-based 5W Public Relations (5WPR), and author. Torossian built his firm's brand through aggressive media tactics, which have, at times, enmeshed him in controversy.

Peter A. Lembo is an American college football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at the University at Buffalo, where he led the Bulls to a record number of victories in his first season as head coach. Previously, he was the special teams coordinator at the University of South Carolina, where, in 2022, he oversaw the...

Vanessa L. Gibson is an American politician who has served as the Borough President of The Bronx since 2022. She served as a member of the New York City Council, representing the 16th district from 2014 to 2021. A Democrat, she was elected Bronx Borough President in November 2021 to a four-year term beginning January 2022, running on a platform...

Alexis Bittar is an American jewelry designer and the founder and CEO of his eponymous accessories brand.

Frances Elizabeth Allen was an American computer scientist and pioneer in the field of optimizing compilers. Allen was the first woman to become an IBM Fellow, and in 2006 became the first woman to win the Turing Award. Her achievements include seminal work in compilers, program optimization, and parallelization. She worked for IBM from 1957 to 2002 and subsequently was...

Brian Lehrer is an American radio talk show host on New York City's public radio station WNYC. His daily two-hour 2007 Peabody Award-winning program, The Brian Lehrer Show, features interviews with newsmakers and experts about current events and social issues. Lehrer was formerly an anchor and reporter for NBC Radio Networks and has been in broadcast journalism for over 30...

Jamar J. Wilson is an American-Finnish former professional basketball player who last played for Boulazac Basket Dordogne of the LNB Pro B. He currently works as an assistant coach for I division A team Tapiolan Honka.

Gerhard Ludwig Weinberg is a German-born American diplomatic and military historian noted for his studies in the history of Nazi Germany and World War II. Weinberg is the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been a member of the history faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill since 1974. Previously...

Susan Molinari is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she sat in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1990 to 1997, representing Staten Island for three terms. Molinari, who was considered a rising star in the party, was selected to deliver the keynote address at the 1996 Republican National Convention. However, the next year, she resigned from...

Garry Francis McCarthy is an American law enforcement officer who serves as the Chief of Police of Willow Springs, Illinois. He was previously the Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. He was a candidate for mayor of Chicago in the 2019 Chicago mayoral election.

Lyle Thompson is an Iroquois professional lacrosse player from the Hawk Clan of the Onondaga Nation. His native name is Deyhahsanoondey, which translates into He's Flying Over Us. He plays both indoor and outdoor professional lacrosse. In professional outdoor lacrosse, he plays at the attack position for the Cannons Lacrosse Club of the Premier Lacrosse League. In professional indoor lacrosse,...

Erik Sprague, known professionally as the Lizardman, is an American freak show and sideshow performer. He is best known for his body modification, including his sharpened teeth, full-body tattoo of green scales, bifurcated tongue, subdermal implants and green-inked lips.

Jamie M. Gold is an American television producer, talent agent, and poker player, based in Malibu, California and known for winning the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. He divides his time between his activities as president of production for the entertainment company, Buzznation and poker competition, primarily major tournaments.

David Jay Bordwell was an American film theorist and film historian. After receiving his PhD from the University of Iowa in 1973, he wrote more than fifteen volumes on the subject of cinema including Narration in the Fiction Film (1985), Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema (1988), Making Meaning (1989), and On the History of Film Style (1997).

Monte Lipman is an American record executive and film producer. He founded the record label Republic Records in 1995, for which he is chief executive officer. He has worked with artists including James Blake, Drake, Florence + the Machine, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Amy Winehouse, Post Malone, The Weeknd, BENEE, Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson, and John Mellencamp. He is the...

Tara Ann VanDerveer is an American former basketball coach who was the head women's basketball coach at Stanford University from 1985 until her retirement in 2024. Designated the Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women's Basketball, VanDerveer led the Stanford Cardinal to three NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championships, winning in 1990, 1992 and 2021. She stepped away from the Stanford program...

Katie McNeil Diamond is an American talent manager and long-form music video and concert documentary producer.

Omar Mwannes Yaghi is a chemist best known for developing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and pioneering reticular chemistry. He was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared with Richard Robson and Susumu Kitagawa, for this work.

Brandon Jay McLaren is a Canadian actor. He made his first screen appearance in the television series Just Cause. He has been known for his main and supporting roles in shows such as Graceland, Power Rangers S.P.D., Ransom, Harper's Island, The Rookie, and Slasher. He has also had roles in the feature films She's the Man, Tucker & Dale vs....

Joshua Ostrovsky, known professionally as The Fat Jewish, is an American entrepreneur, social media influencer, author and plus size model.

Gregory Maguire is an American novelist. He is the author of Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many of Maguire's adult novels are inspired by classic children's stories. Maguire published his first novel, The Lightning Time, in 1978. Wicked, published in 1995, was his first novel for adults. It was adapted...

Tom Junod is an American journalist who is currently a senior writer for ESPN.com. He is the recipient of two National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors.

Ali Mehmet Celâl Şengör is a Turkish geologist. He is retired from the faculty at Istanbul Technical University, Department of Geological Engineering.

Harold Vernon Goldstein, better known as Harold Gould, was an American character actor. He appeared as Martin Morgenstern on the sitcom Rhoda (1974–78) and Miles Webber on the sitcom The Golden Girls (1985–92). A five-time Emmy Award nominee, Gould acted in film and television for nearly 50 years, appearing in more than 300 television shows, 20 major motion pictures, and...

John Theodore Rossi is an American actor and producer. He portrayed Juan Carlos "Juice" Ortiz on the FX series Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014) and Hernan "Shades" Alvarez in Luke Cage (2016–2018). In 2024, he portrayed Dr. Julian Rush on the HBO series The Penguin (2024). His film roles include Tino Hull in Red Sands (2009), Todd in Bad Hurt (2015),...

Ashley Marie Massaro was an American professional wrestler. She was best known for her time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) where she performed under her real name.

John Augustin Ortiz is an American actor. He is known for his antagonist role as Arturo Braga in Fast & Furious (2009) and Fast & Furious 6 (2013), and Clyde in Jack Goes Boating (2010), which earned him a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is also an artistic director/co-founder of the LAByrinth Theater Company.

Priya Anand is an Indian actress and model who predominantly appears in Tamil films. She has also appeared in a few Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam films.

Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

David Bryan Woodside is an American actor. He is best known for his television roles as the bass singer Melvin Franklin in The Temptations, Robin Wood in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Malcolm Franks in Single Ladies, Jeff Malone in Suits, Dr. Joseph Prestridge in Parenthood, the angel Amenadiel in Lucifer, and Wayne Palmer in the thriller series 24.

David Ira Weprin is a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly, representing District 24 in Queens since 2010, when he replaced his brother Mark. In the Assembly he has supported progressive causes, such as a surcharge on millionaires, and granting immediate parole to prisoners who have reached 55 years of age and served 15 years in prison, regardless...

Jane Lewis Corwin is an American politician and businesswoman who currently serves a Commissioner of the International Joint Commission for United States and Canada. She previously served as a Republican Party member of the New York State Assembly from 2009 to 2016. She represented the 144th Assembly District which covers parts of Erie and Niagara counties. Corwin was also the...

Sallie Watson "Penny" Chisholm is an American biological oceanographer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is an expert in the ecology and evolution of ocean microbes. Her research focuses particularly on the most abundant marine phytoplankton, Prochlorococcus, that she discovered in the 1980s with Rob Olson and other collaborators. She has a TED talk about their discovery and importance...

Michael Angelo Arcuri is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for New York's 24th congressional district from 2007 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He lost re-election on November 2, 2010, to Republican Richard L. Hanna.

Jessica Valenti is an American feminist writer. She was the co-founder of the blog Feministing, which she wrote for from 2004 to 2011. Valenti is the author of six books: Full Frontal Feminism (2007), He's a Stud, She's a Slut (2008), The Purity Myth (2009), Why Have Kids? (2012), Sex Object: A Memoir (2016), and Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies,...

Michael P. Dempsey is a former acting Director of National Intelligence, serving from January 20, 2017 to March 16, 2017.

Mark Weprin represented District 23 in the New York City Council, then the most ethnically diverse district in New York City, which contains the Queens neighborhoods of Hollis Hills, Queens Village, Little Neck, Douglaston, Bayside, Bellerose, Floral Park, Glen Oaks, New Hyde Park, Hollis, Hollis Park Gardens, Holliswood, Fresh Meadows, and Oakland Gardens.

John Michael McHugh is an American politician from the U.S. state of New York who served as the 21st United States Secretary of the Army, and represented the state's 23rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.

Virginia Brown-Waite is an American politician who served as U.S. Representative for Florida's 5th congressional district from 2003 until 2011. She is a member of the Republican Party and a founder of Maggie's List.

William Freeman Vilas was an American lawyer, politician, and United States Senator. In the U.S. Senate, he represented the state of Wisconsin for one term, from 1891 to 1897. As a prominent Bourbon Democrat, he was also a member of the cabinet of U.S. President Grover Cleveland, serving as the 33rd Postmaster General and the 17th Secretary of the Interior.

Philip Michael Boyle is an American politician and Long Island business leader who served as the Senator for the 4th District of the New York Senate from 2013 to 2022. He is a Republican. The district he represented includes the villages of Babylon, Brightwaters, Lindenhurst, Ocean Beach, Saltaire in Suffolk County on Long Island. After leaving the State Senate in...

Bonnie Denise Jenkins is an American diplomat who served as the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security in the Biden Administration. During the Obama administration, she was the U.S. Department of State's coordinator for threat reduction programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. She is currently the Shapiro Visiting Professor at George Washington University's...

Lee Michael Zeldin is an American politician who has been serving as the 17th administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since January 29, 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he represented New York's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2023. From 2011 to 2014, Zeldin served as a member of the...

Edward Fitzgerald Burns is an American actor and filmmaker. He rose to fame with The Brothers McMullen (1995), his low-budget independent film that became successful worldwide. His other film appearances include Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Holiday (2006), 27 Dresses (2008), Man on a Ledge (2012), Friends with Kids (2012), and Alex Cross (2012). Burns directed films such as She's...

William Levi Dawson was an American politician and lawyer who represented a Chicago, Illinois district for more than 27 years in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1943 to his death in office in 1970. In 1949, he became the first African American to chair a congressional committee.

Luo Ying-shay was a Taiwanese politician who served as the Minister of Justice from 30 September 2013 until 20 May 2016.

Sandeep Kumar Shukla is currently the director of International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad. He took charge as the director of IIITH on 20 August 2025, succeeding Prof. P. J. Narayanan after a tenure of 12 years. Prof. Shukla was previously the Poonam and Prabhu Goel Chair Professor and previous head of Computer Science and Engineering Department, Indian Institute of...

Hamdi Ulukaya is a Turkish billionaire businessperson, activist and philanthropist of Kurdish ethnicity based in the United States. He is the founder, owner, chair, and CEO of the strained yogurt brand Chobani. He is among the 200 richest people in the world, with a fortune of $14.5B, as of January 2026.

Nora Lum, known professionally as Awkwafina, is an American actress and rapper. She rose to prominence in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" became popular on YouTube. She then released her debut album, Yellow Ranger (2014), and appeared on the MTV comedy series Girl Code (2014–2015). She expanded to films with supporting roles in the comedies Neighbors 2: Sorority...

Min Zhou is a Chinese-born American sociologist. In 2023, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Ana Rosalinda García Carías is a Honduran lawyer who was First Lady of Honduras from 2014 to 2022, as the wife of President Juan Orlando Hernández. She ran to be the National Party presidential nominee in the 2025 Honduran general election but was defeated by Nasry Asfura.