John Hennessy

Hennessy received a B.E. in electrical engineering from Villanova University in 1973 and an M.S. (1975) and Ph.D. (1977) in computer science from S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook. He also holds ten honorary doctorates.⁠[1][2]

Hennessy joined Stanford University in September 1977 as an assistant professor of electrical engineering, became an associate professor in 1983 and a professor of electrical engineering and computer science in 1986. He chaired the Department of Computer Science from September 1994 to March 1996 and was dean of the School of Engineering from June 1996 to June 1999.⁠[1]

In 1981 he drew together researchers to focus on RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) technology. Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach, which he co-wrote with David PattersonDavid PattersonDavid Patterson is an American computer scientist and UC Berkeley professor emeritus who led research projects including RISC and RAID, co-wrote a classic computer architecture textbook with John Hennessy, and shared the 2017 ACM Turing Award with him.Open the full entry, was published in 1990 and has gone through several editions, the latest in 2025; the two also co-wrote Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface, first published in 1993.⁠[2][1]

In September 1984 Hennessy co-founded MIPS Computer Systems, serving as chief scientist until June 1992; the company went public in 1989 and later became part of Imagination Technologies.⁠[1][2]

In 1998 he co-founded Atheros Communications and served as its founding chairman until 2010; the company later became part of Qualcomm.⁠[1]

Hennessy was provost of Stanford University from June 1999 to August 2000 and served as Stanford’s 10th president from September 2000 to August 2016.⁠[1]

Hennessy served on the board of Cisco SystemsCiscoCisco Systems, Inc. is an American networking technology company, incorporated in 1984, headquartered in San Jose, California, and listed on Nasdaq.Open the full entry from January 2002 to 2018 and has served on the board of Alphabet, GoogleGoogleGoogle is an American technology company founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin and incorporated in 1998. It became an Alphabet subsidiary in 2015. Its businesses include internet search, advertising, software platforms, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.Open the full entry’s parent company, since April 2004, chairing it since 2018. He is also a trustee of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.⁠[1][3]

The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program was announced in early 2016 with Hennessy as co-founder, and he became its inaugural Shriram Family Director in September 2016. The program describes itself as “the largest fully-endowed, university-wide graduate fellowship in the world.”⁠[2]

In 2018 Stanford Business Books published Hennessy’s Leading Matters: Lessons from My Journey. He and David Patterson shared the 2017 ACM A.M. Turing Award.⁠[1][3]

On October 8, 2018, Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry (a16z) published the podcast episode “From Research to Startup, There and Back Again” on its website, featuring Hennessy, then chairman of Alphabet, in conversation with a16z co-founder Marc AndreessenMarc AndreessenMarc Andreessen is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, a co-founder and general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). While in college he helped develop the graphical web browser Mosaic, then co-founded Netscape and Loudcloud (later renamed Opsware), and has long served as a director of Meta; he has also published essays such as “Why Software Is Eating the World.”Open the full entry and general partner Martin CasadoMartin CasadoMartin Casado is a computer scientist, entrepreneur and venture capitalist who is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he leads infrastructure investing. A major proponent of software-defined networking, he co-founded Nicira and served as its chief technology officer, and after VMware acquired the company he ran its networking and security business; he also co-founded the nonprofit MuralNet.Open the full entry, hosted by Sonal Chokshi of a16z. The episode was uploaded to the a16z YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel on January 1, 2019.⁠[4][5]

The episode covered how RISC began with a startup and reshaped technology, how startups grow, the “Stanford Model,” humility and empathy in leadership, interdisciplinary studies, real-world applications of AI and machine learning, and academic versus corporate research. Hennessy said, “I was a bit of the reluctant entrepreneur.” He also said, “ML is the ultimate ‘garbage in, garbage out’ technology.”⁠[4]

On May 4, 2026, Stanford University announced a restructuring of its AI institutions under which Hennessy would co-lead the Stanford HAI advisory council with Fei-Fei LiFei-Fei LiFei-Fei Li is an American computer scientist, a professor of computer science at Stanford University and founding co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and the co-founder and CEO of the spatial intelligence company World Labs. She led the creation of ImageNet and has served as a vice president at Google and chief scientist of Google Cloud, as well as an independent director of Twitter. Since 2026, she has served as senior advisor on artificial intelligence to Stanford’s president and co-chair of the HAI advisory council.Open the full entry. He said, “HAI has the potential to be one of the most important initiatives the university has ever launched, impacting every school.”⁠[6]

Hennessy’s honors include the 2001 ACM Eckert-Mauchly Award, the 2004 NEC C&C Prize, the 2012 IEEE Medal of Honor, the 2022 Charles Stark Draper Prize for Engineering from the National Academy of Engineering (shared) and the 2024 National Science Board Vannevar Bush Award. He is an elected member or fellow of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.⁠[2]

Personal website: https://hennessy.stanford.edu/ (opens in a new window).⁠[3]