John Leroy Hennessy (born September 22, 1952) is an American computer scientist who is chairman of Alphabet Inc.

[8] Hennessy is one of the founders of MIPS Technologies and Atheros, and also the tenth President of Stanford University.

In 1987, he became the Willard and Inez Kerr Bell Endowed Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

[21] Hennessy has been a board member of Google (later Alphabet Inc.),[22] Cisco Systems,[23] Atheros Communications,[24] and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

[26] On October 14, 2010, Hennessy was presented a khata by the 14th Dalai Lama before the latter addressed Maples Pavilion.

[27] In December 2010, Hennessy coauthored an editorial with Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust urging the passage of the DREAM Act;[28] the legislation did not pass the 111th United States Congress.

The program has a $750 million endowment to fully fund graduate students at Stanford for up to three years.