University of Illinois | 150 Years & Beyond

Alex Hedlund

Film and TV producer

Urbana High grad

Mannie Jackson

Basketball Hall of Famer

CEO, Harlem Globetrotters

Todd Atkinson

Ex-external affairs director

USDA Farm Service Agency

Angie Rieger

Senior VP

Lands’ End

Mike Hopkins

NASA astronaut

UI football captain

Joe Tanner

NASA astronaut

Flew 4 shuttle missions

Billy Gillispie

Ex-Bill Self assistant

Former Kentucky head coach

Bill Smith

Champaign-born Huffy Corp. CEO

Died in 2019

Jeremy Stoppelman

Yelp CEO

Ex-PayPal VP/engineering

Steve Chen

YouTube co-founder

Class of 2022, Grainger College of Engineering Hall of Fame

Tom Penn

ESPN NBA analyst

Los Angeles FC owner

Stan Ikenberry

UI’s 14th president, 1979-95

Longest-serving president

Peride Blind

United Nations

Former human rights officer

Howie Japlon

VP/general counsel

Ace Hardware

Jered Thorp

Director, Nike

Global sportswear comms.

Francine Parham

Author, speaker

‘Ultimate Career Pocket Guide’

Douglas Bell

Oral historian

The Oscars

Janelle Land

TV producer

‘Dr. Phil,’ ‘Judge Judy’

Heather Pink

Co-founder, CEO

PinkDear LLC

Mike LaCassa

Director, minor league ops

Los Angeles Angels

Kimberly Kemper

U.S. Loyalty Manager

ExxonMobil

Colleen Callahan

Director, Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Distinguished Service Award recipient

John Holecek

No. 5 in tackles at UI

IHSA title-winning coach

Matt Lackey

NCAA wrestling champion

Orthopedics sales rep