The following is a list of notable alumni and faculty of Northeastern University.

• Nikesh Arora – chairman and chief executive officer of Palo Alto Networks
• Jeff Bornstein – CFO, General Electric
• Robert A. Brooks – founder and CEO, Brooks Fiber Properties^[1]
• George Chamillard – former CEO, Teradyne, Inc.
• Jeff Clarke – Former CEO of Kodak
• Jeff Cooper – COO and co-founder, EPOX-Z Corporation
• Bob Davis – CEO and founder, Lycos
• Richard Egan – co-founder, EMC
• Shawn Fanning – founder, Napster
• Jerald G. Fishman – CEO, Analog Devices
• George Kariotis – founder, Alpha Industries
• Amin Khoury – founder and CEO, B/E Aerospace
• Andrew Left – activist short seller
• Roger Marino – co-founder of EMC; former part-owner of Pittsburgh Penguins^[2]
• Alan McKim – CEO and founder, Clean Harbors
• Larry Meyer – CEO, Uniqlo USA
• Srinath Narayanan – principal, Canaccord Adams
• Marc Raibert – founder and CEO, Boston Dynamics
• Jeffrey Rosen – billionaire businessman
• Peter W. Smith – investment banker, Republican activist
• Sy Sternberg – chairman and former CEO, New York Life Insurance Company
• Biz Stone – co-founder of Twitter

• Jayson P. Ahern – deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• Olubanke King Akerele – Liberian foreign minister
• George F. Archambault – Pharmacy Liaison Officer for the United States Public Health Service
• Demetrius J. Atsalis – member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1999–2013)
• Thomas Calter – member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (2007–2018)
• Christie Carpino – member of the Connecticut House of Representatives
• David Chu – member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (1997–2004) and the 9th and 10th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China^[3]
• Cheryl A. Coakley-Rivera – member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1999–2014)
• Mo Cowan – U.S. senator of Massachusetts
• Harold Daniel Donohue – member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1947–1974)
• Robert DeLeo - former speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (2009-2020)
• Patrick Duddy – U.S. ambassador
• Richard Egan – U.S. ambassador
• David Ferriero – 10th archivist of the United States
• Thomas Finneran – former speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1996–2004)
• Zandra Flemister – first African American woman to serve as a U.S. Secret Service agent
• Joseph J. Seymour – Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (1974–1978)
• Gordon D. Fox – Majority Leader of the Rhode Island House of Representatives (2010–2014)
• Peter Franchot – Comptroller of Maryland
• Maggie Hassan – Governor of New Hampshire (20132017) and the current junior United States senator from New Hampshire
• Maura Healey – Governor of Massachusetts (2023–present) and Massachusetts Attorney General (2015–2023)
• Russell Holmes – member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (2011–present)
• Roderick L. Ireland – Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice
• Edward Jackamonis – speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• James Franklin Jeffrey – U.S. ambassador
• Lyndon LaRouche – perennial presidential candidate
• Hadassah Lieberman – wife of Connecticut senator Joseph Lieberman
• Ron Mariano - Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
• Adnan Aurangzeb Miangul – former Pakistani parliament member and Prince of Swat, Pakistan
• Paul Parks – Massachusetts secretary of education (1975–1979)
• John O. Pastore – governor of Rhode Island
• Ari Porth – member of the Florida House of Representatives
• Theodore Speliotis – member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives^[4]
• Karen Spilka – member of the Massachusetts State Senate
• Wallace Stickney – director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President George H. W. Bush
• Thomas Winkowski – former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
• Leslie Winner – North Carolina state senator

• Margot Botsford – Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
• Linda Dalianis – Justice, New Hampshire Supreme Court
• Dana Fabe – Chief Justice, Alaska Supreme Court
• Edward Hennessey – Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
• Peter T. Zarella – Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court
• Victoria A. Roberts - Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
• Landya B. McCafferty - Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire

• Hans Baumann – inventor and engineer
• Hans R. Camenzind – inventor of the 555 timer IC
• Richard P. Gabriel – expert on the Lisp programming language
• Gregory Jarvis – astronaut
• Eugene F. Lally – aerospace engineer, photographer, entrepreneur
• Yale Patt – engineer
• Albert Sacco – astronaut

• Mark P. Fitzgerald – United States Navy Admiral
• Richard I. Neal – United States Marine Corps General

• Ernie Anastos – New York City TV news anchorman
• Eddie Andelman – sports radio talk show host (MBA)
• Bill Barnwell – sportswriter, ESPN, Grantland
• Michelle Bonner – ESPN/CNN/FOX Sports anchor, reporter
• Fred Cusick – sportscaster
• Richard Daniels – former president, Boston Globe
• Nat Hentoff – contributing editor, The New Yorker Magazine
• Will McDonough – sportswriter, Boston Globe
• Don Orsillo – TV broadcaster
• Walter V. Robinson – investigative journalist, 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service recipient
• Michael Slackman – International Managing Editor, The New York Times
• Molly White – technology writer and Wikipedia editor^[5]

• Al Barile – singer, guitarist for hardcore punk band SS Decontrol
• Earle Brown – composer, developed open-form scores
• Joy Browne – radio talk show host
• Jose F. Buscaglia – philosopher, historian, social scientist
• Terry Carter – actor, Sgt. Joe Broadhurst in McCloud and Colonel Tigh in the original Battlestar Galactica
• Carla Cook – Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist
• Jane Curtin – actress, comedian, and founding member of Saturday Night Live
• Michael J. Epstein – filmmaker and musician
• Martín Espada – poet
• Damien Fahey – former host of the MTV program TRL
• Toby Fox – game designer and developer of Undertale and Deltarune
• Alex Garcia – Food Network chef
• Meredith Garniss – visual artist and landscape painter
• Elliot Grainge – CEO of Atlantic Records
• Sidney Gish – singer/songwriter^[6]
• Alan Catello Grazioso – Emmy Award winning television producer, director and editor^[7][8]
• Mohammed Saeed Harib – creator of Freej^[9]
• Courtney Hunt – writer and director, whose film Frozen River was nominated for an Academy Award
• Beverly Johnson – supermodel and actress
• Aisha Kahlil – dancer, singer
• Barbara Kopple – documentary filmmaker
• Diana Lemieux – freelance photographer
• Patrice O'Neal – comedian and actor
• Peter Orner – fiction writer
• Jillian Wheeler – singer/songwriter
• Wendy Williams – radio and television, host of The Wendy Williams Show

• William M. Fowler – author, professor, and former director of the Massachusetts Historical Society
• Michael R. Lane – 15th president of Emporia State University
• Dean Tong – author and consultant
• Michael L. Tushman – organizational theorist, professor at Harvard Business School
• Elizabeth Yeampierre – attorney and environmental activist
• Yuliya Snihur - professor and researcher at IESE Business School

• Zachary Aston-Reese – NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins
• José Juan Barea – Dallas Mavericks, NBA
• Harry Barnes – San Diego Rockets, NBA
• Ed Barry – Boston Bruins, National Hockey League (NHL)
• Sandy Beadle – Winnipeg Jets, NHL
• Bruce Bickford – gold medal-winning distance runner
• Randy Bucyk – Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, NHL
• Joe Callahan – Boston Bees, MLB
• Bob Cappadona – former NFL running back
• Lynn Chiavaro – basketball player and coach
• Art Chisholm – Boston Bruins, NHL
• Rob Cowie – Los Angeles Kings, NHL
• Kendall Coyne – silver and gold medalist United States women's national ice hockey team
• Jerome Daniels – Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, Arizona Cardinals
• Jim Fahey – NHL defenseman, New Jersey Devils
• Amber Ferreira – professional triathlete
• Tony Fryklund – professional mixed martial arts fighter
• Adam Gaudette – Hobey Baker Award recipient, NHL center, Vancouver Canucks
• Chelsey Goldberg – ice hockey player, Boston Blades, CWHL
• Scott Gruhl – Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL
• Jordan Harris (born 2000) - Montreal Canadiens, NHL
• "Wild" Bill Hunnefield – Major League Baseball (MLB)
• Shawn James – professional basketball player for Maccabi Tel Aviv^[10]
• Sean Jones – National Football League
• Reema Juffali – Saudi Arabian racing driver
• Saja Kamal – Saudi Arabian footballer
• Steven Langton – United States Olympian (bobsled)
• Dave Leitao – college basketball coach
• Sarah Levy (born 1995) - Olympic bronze medalist, rugby union and rugby sevens player
• Reggie Lewis – Boston Celtics
• Madison Mailey – Olympic gold medalist (rowing)
• Pat Mason – college baseball coach at Virginia Tech^[11]
• Dan McGillis – NHL defenseman
• Perry Moss – 1986 Washington Bullets, Philadelphia 76ers, 1987 Golden State Warriors
• Chris Nilan – Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers
• Jamie Oleksiak –NHL, Dallas Stars
• Adam Ottavino – 1st-round pick in 2006 MLB draft, pitcher for St. Louis Cardinals (2010), Colorado Rockies (2012–2018), New York Yankees (2019-2020) Boston Red Sox (2021-Present)
• Carlos Peña – MLB first baseman/outfielder, Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays
• David Poile – NHL executive
• Bruce Racine – NHL goaltender, St. Louis Blues
• Dan Ross – NFL Cincinnati Bengals and Super Bowl record setter
• Michael Ryan – NHL left winger, Buffalo Sabres
• Florence Schelling – goaltender for the Switzerland's Women's Ice Hockey Team^[12]
• Dylan Sikura – NHL center, Chicago Blackhawks
• Brian Sullivan – NHL, 1992–93 New Jersey Devils
• Harry Swartz (born 1996) – soccer player
• Josh Heinrich Taves – NFL football player, 2000–02, Oakland Raiders and Carolina Panthers
• Brad Thiessen – NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Jocko Thompson – MLB pitcher, 1948–51 Philadelphia Phillies
• Johnny Tobin – MLB, 1932 New York Giants
• Shaun Tomson (born 1955) – South African world champion surfer
• Joe Vitale – NHL, center for Pittsburgh Penguins
• Jason Vosler (born 1993) – baseball third baseman for the San Francisco Giants
• Ashley Wagner (born 1991) – figure skater
• Kurt Walker – NHL, 1975–78 Toronto Maple Leafs
• Jim Walsh – Buffalo Sabres, NHL
• Rick Weitzman – 1968, World Champion, Boston Celtics
• Keith Willis – NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers
• Hillary Witt – assistant coach for the United States women's national ice hockey team in the Sochi 2014 Olympics
• George Yankowski – MLB, 1942 Philadelphia Athletics, 1949 Chicago White Sox^[13]

• M. Shahid Alam
• Daniel P. Aldrich – expert on social capital and resilience in disaster
• Prince Charles Alexander - Grammy Award-winning Record Producer
• Albert-László Barabási – American Physical Society Fellow, Member of the Academia Europaea and contributor to the development of real-world network theory
• Lisa Feldman Barrett – Distinguished Professor of Psychology, fellow of AAAS
• Barry Bluestone – founding director of the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy
• Ed Bullins – playwright and Guggenheim Fellow
• Joe Castiglione – MLB radio announcer
• Rose Laub Coser – sociologist; vice-president of the American Sociological Association; president of the Eastern Sociological Society
• Tim Cresswell – human geographer and poet
• William F. Crittenden - professor emeritus at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business
• Nicholas Daniloff – correspondent for UPI and U.S. News & World Report
• Richard Deth – voice in the autism and vaccine controversy
• Michael Dukakis – former Massachusetts State Governor and 1988 Democratic Presidential Candidate
• Matthias Felleisen – author of How to Design Programs
• William M. Fowler – historian, former director of the Massachusetts Historical Society
• Melissa Ferrick – singer/songwriter; plaintiff of industry-altering $43 million class action lawsuit Ferrick v. Spotify ^[14]
• James Alan Fox – authority on serial killers and hate crimes
• Auroop Ratan Ganguly – Water & Climate Science, Data & Network Science, and Infrastructure Resilience
• Alexander Gorlov – ASME Thomas A. Edison Award winner; inventor of the Gorlov helical turbine
• Gary Goshgarian – author, uses the pen name Gary Braver
• Nat Hentoff – Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright Fellow
• M. Whitney Kelting
• Harlan Lane – MacArthur Foundation Genius Award winner
• Jack Levin – authority on serial killers and hate crimes
• Karl Lieberherr – computer scientist
• Peter K. Manning – authority on the occupational culture of policing
• Pran Nath – co-developer of the theory of supergravity
• Robert B. Parker – author of the "Spenser" novels
• Rupal Patel – speech scientist and founder of VOCALiD
• Justin B. Ries – marine scientist and inventor
• Walter V. Robinson – Pulitzer-winning journalist
• Nada Sanders – Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business
• Mikhail Shubin – member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and mathematician
• Justine Siegal – baseball coach and sports educator
• Alessandro Vespignani – American Physical Society Fellow, Member of the Academia Europaea
• Mitchell Wand – author of Essentials of Programming Languages