President of Columbia University

The President of Columbia University is the highest officer of the university. The President is equivalent to a Chief Executive Officer in a corporation, and the Trustees are equivalent to his or her Board of Directors. The President is a member ex officio, but not the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Since Frederick A. P. Barnard, Presidents have published public reports to the trustees. Originally an annual occurrence, the recent trend has been to five-year reports.

List of Presidents

King's College

• Samuel Johnson
• Myles Cooper

Columbia College

• William Samuel Johnson
• Charles Henry Wharton
• Benjamin Moore
• William Harris
• William Duer
• Nathaniel Fish Moore
• Charles King
• Frederick A. P. Barnard
• Seth Low

Columbia University

• Seth Low
• Nicholas Murray Butler
• Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Grayson Kirk
• Andrew Cordier
• William McGill
• Michael Sovern
• George Rupp
• Lee C. Bollinger

Acting Presidents

• Benjamin Moore - 1775-1776 (Myles Cooper fled New York)
• Henry Drisler - 1867, 1888-1889 (Frederick Barnard leave of absence, and then resignation)
• John Howard Van Amringe - 1899 (Seth Low leave of absence)
• Frank Diehl Fackenthal - 1945-1948 (period between Nicholas Murray Butler resignation and Dwight Eisenhower appointment)
• Grayson Kirk - 1950-1953 (served while Eisenhower took leave of absence to run NATO)
• Andrew Cordier - 1969-1970 (appointment retroactively made official)