About Walter Isaacson

Walter Isaacson
President and CEO

Contact: Pat Zindulka, pat.zindulka@aspeninstitute.org

Walter Isaacson is the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan educational and policy studies institute based in Washington, D.C. He has been the Chairman and CEO of CNN and the editor of Time Magazine.

He is the author of Einstein: His Life and Universe (April 2007), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), and Kissinger: A Biography (1992), and coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986).Isaacson was born on May 20, 1952, in New Orleans. He is a graduate of Harvard College and of Pembroke College of Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.He began his career at the Sunday Times of London and then the New Orleans Times-Picayune/States-Item. He joined Time Magazine in 1978 and served as a political correspondent, national editor and editor of new media before becoming the magazine's 14th editor in 1996.  He became Chairman and CEO of CNN in 2001, and then president and CEO of the Aspen Institute in 2003.He is the chairman of the board of Teach for America, which recruits recent college graduates to teach in underserved communities. He is also chairman of the board of the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership, set up by the U.S. State Department to promote economic and educational opportunities for the Palestinian people. He is on the Board of United Airlines, Tulane University, Society for Science & the Public, and the Bipartisan Policy Center. He was appointed after Hurricane Katrina to be the vice-chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority.He lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, DC.

Download a high resolution photo. Download Mr. Isaacson's biography (PDF).

Read Mr. Isaacson's published articles.

Read articles about and interviews with Walter Isaacson and reviews of his book Einstein: His Life and Universe (Simon & Schuster).