Walter Isaacson

Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor.

He has been the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, and the editor of Time.

Isaacson attended Harvard University and Pembroke College, Oxford as a Rhodes scholar.

Walter Seff Isaacson was born on May 20, 1952, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Betty "Betsy" Lee (née Seff) and Irwin Isaacson.

His father was a "kindly Jewish distracted humanist engineer with a reverence for science" and his mother was a real estate broker.

His maternal grandfather was a prominent Alexandria Jewish businessman who owned the Globe men's store.

He attended New Orleans' Isidore Newman School, where he was student body president.

He also attended the Telluride Association Summer Program (TASP) at Deep Springs College.

Isaacson studied at Harvard University, where he majored in history and literature and graduated in 1974.

At Harvard, Isaacson was the president of the Signet Society, a member of the Harvard Lampoon, and a resident of Lowell House.

He later attended Pembroke College, Oxford, as a Rhodes scholar, where he studied philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE) and graduated with first-class honours.

Isaacson began his career in journalism at The Sunday Times in London, followed by a position with the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

He joined Time magazine in 1978, serving as the magazine's political correspondent, national editor, and editor of new media before becoming the magazine's 14th editor in 1996.

He is the co-author with Evan Thomas of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986) and the author of Pro and Con (1983), Kissinger: A Biography (1992), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), American Sketches (2009), Steve Jobs (2011), The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (2014), Leonardo da Vinci (2017), The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race (2021) and Elon Musk (2023).

Isaacson is a professor at Tulane University and an advisory partner at Perella Weinberg Partners, a New York City-based financial services firm.

He was vice chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, which oversaw the rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, chaired the government board that runs Voice of America, and was a member of the Defense Innovation Board.

He additionally co-authored with Evan Thomas the work The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986).

Isaacson is the author of multiple published books, including Kissinger: A Biography (1992), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007) and American Sketches (2009).

Isaacson became chairman and CEO of CNN in July 2001, replacing Tom Johnson, and only two months later, guided CNN through the events of 9/11.

Shortly after his appointment at CNN, Isaacson attracted attention for seeking the views of Republican Party leaders on Capitol Hill regarding criticisms that CNN broadcast content that was unfair to Republicans or conservatives.

He was quoted in Roll Call magazine as saying: "I was trying to reach out to a lot of Republicans who feel that CNN has not been as open to covering Republicans, and I wanted to hear their concerns."

The CEO's conduct was criticized by the Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) organization, which said that Isaacson's "pandering" behavior was endowing conservative politicians with power over CNN.

In January 2003, he announced that he would step down as president of CNN to become president of the Aspen Institute.

Jim Walton replaced Isaacson as president of CNN.

Isaacson served as the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute from 2003 until 2018, when he announced that he would step down to become a professor of history at Tulane University and an advisory partner at the New York City financial services firm Perella Weinberg Partners.

He is the editor of Profiles in Leadership: Historians on the Elusive Quality of Greatness (2010, W. W. Norton).

On October 24, 2011, Steve Jobs, Isaacson's authorized biography of Apple Inc.'s Jobs, was published by Simon & Schuster, only a few weeks after Jobs's death.

It became an international best-seller, breaking all records for sales of a biography.

The book was based on over forty interviews with Jobs over a two-year period up until shortly before his death, and on conversations with friends, family members, and business rivals of the entrepreneur.

In October 2014, Isaacson published The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, which explores the history of the key technological innovations that were prominent in the digital revolution, most notably the parallel developments of the computer and the Internet.

It became a New York Times bestseller.

Writing for the New York Times, Janet Maslin described the author as "a kindred spirit to the visionaries and enthusiasts" whom Isaacson wrote about.

In November 2017, the Aspen Institute named Dan Porterfield, the president of Franklin & Marshall College, as Isaacson's successor.

In March 2017, Isaacson launched a podcast with Dell Technologies called Trailblazers, which focuses on technology's effects on business.

His self-titled biography of Leonardo da Vinci was published on October 17, 2017, to positive reviews from critics.

In August 2017, Paramount Pictures won a bidding war against Universal Pictures for the rights to adapt Isaacson's biography of da Vinci.

The studio bought the rights under its deal with Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions, which said that it planned to produce the film with DiCaprio as the star.

Screenwriter John Logan (The Aviator, Gladiator) has been tapped to pen the script.

His book The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race was published in March 2021 by Simon & Schuster.

In 2018, Isaacson was named as a contributor for the Amanpour & Company airing on PBS and CNN that replaced The Charlie Rose Show.