John Sexton

John Edward Sexton (born September 29, 1942) is an American legal scholar. He is the Benjamin F. Butler Professor of Law at New York University where he teaches at the law school and NYU's undergraduate colleges. Sexton served as the fifteenth president of NYU, from 2002 to 2015. During his time as president, NYU's stature rose into the ranks of the world's top universities, and it became the world's first global network university. Sexton has been called a "transformational" figure in higher education and was named by Time Magazine as one of the United States' 10 best college presidents in 2009.

From 1988 to 2002, he served as dean of the NYU School of Law, during which time NYU became one of the top five law schools in the country according to U.S. News & World Report. Sexton has also served as chair of several major higher education organizations, including the Association of American Law Schools, the American Council on Education, the Independent Colleges and Universities of New York State, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the University of the People President's Council. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received awards and honors for his work in education, including the American Council on Education's Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence and 26 honorary doctoral degrees. In July 2008, he was named as Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, the national order of the Legion of Honor of France; and in April 2024, Sexton received the Abu Dhabi Award, which is the highest civilian honor issued by the United Arab Emirates. From January 1, 2003, to January 1, 2007, Sexton was the Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; in 2006, he served as chair of the Federal Reserve System's Council of Chairs.