Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute Recognizes Steven Spielberg with Yale Legend in Leadership Award

June 10, 2023

Steven Spielberg, iconic filmmaker and chairman of Amblin Partners, will receive the Yale Legend in Leadership Award at the virtual Yale CEO Summit on Monday, June 12. The award, conferred by the unanimous vote of representatives of Yale and past award winners, will be presented by Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company and Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft.

Summit organizer Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at the Yale School of Management, commented: “I am delighted to celebrate Steven Spielberg, who embodies what it means to be a legend in his own time. His accomplishments as a three-time Academy Award-winning film director, producer, and entrepreneur are simply unrivaled.

“I echo his Presidential Medal of Freedom citation in offering the observation that Spielberg’s films have helped shape America’s story, but even more importantly, are marked by a faith in our common humanity. In addition to pathbreaking creative entertainment, the values fortified in his films have helped all of us build understanding across societies and discover personal meaning.

“Spielberg is not only a Hollywood icon but a pillar of civic engagement in philanthropy alongside his wife, Kate Capshaw. After filming Schindler’s List, Spielberg established the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, now the USC Shoah Foundation, to chronicle and preserve the histories of survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust, which is now the largest archive of its kind in the world. Through so many of his films, Spielberg captures for eternity stories of courageous individuals and the triumph of humanity over fear and tyranny.”

Steven Spielberg is one of the world's most successful and influential filmmakers, and is currently chairman of Amblin Partners, a corporate descendent of DreamWorks, SKG, which he co-founded in 1994. Among a host of career accolades, he is a three-time Academy Award® winner, a Kennedy Center Honoree, a recipient of the Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 from President Barack Obama.

The Legend in Leadership Award was created 25 years ago to honor current and former CEOs who serve as living legends to inspire chief executives across industries, sectors, and nations. Past recipients include: Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft; Kathy Warden, CEO of Northrop Grumman; Darius Adamczyk, CEO of Honeywell; Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine; General Mark Milley, Chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff; Lester Crown, Chairman of Henry Crown and Co; Carla Hills; US Trade Representative and Fifth US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Farooq Kathwari, CEO of Ethan Allen; Andrew Young, Mayor of Atlanta and US Ambassador to UN; Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines; Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer; Alex Gorsky, CEO of Johnson & Johnson; Lynn Good, CEO of Duke Energy; Lisa Su, CEO of AMD; Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart; Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott; Brian Cornell, CEO of Target; Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T; Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon; Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck; Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and 65th U.S. Secretary of State; Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM; Janet Yellen, United States Secretary of the Treasury; Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever; Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors; Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America; David Rubenstein, CEO of The Carlyle Group; Leonard Schleifer, CEO, and George Yancopoulos, President of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals; Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast; Ron Shaich, CEO of Panera Bread; Terry Lundgren, CEO of Macy's; Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin; Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase; Ken Chenault, CEO of American Express; Denise Morrison, CEO of Campbell Soup; Jim McNerney, CEO of Boeing; Ian Cook, CEO of Colgate-Palmolive; Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs; Klaus Kleinfeld, CEO of Alcoa; Scott Davis, Chairman of UPS; Frank Blake, CEO of Home Depot; Jeff Bewkes, CEO of TimeWarner; Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo; Michael Dell, CEO of Dell; Anne Mulcahy, CEO of Xerox; Bob Iger; CEO of Disney; Steve Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone; Maurice Greenberg, CEO of C.V. Starr; Al Gordon; Chairman of Kidder, Peabody & Co; Bill Donaldson; 27th Chairman of the SEC and CEO of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette; Lech Walesa, President of Poland and Nobel Laureate; John Whitehead, Co-Chair of Goldman Sachs; John Pepper, CEO of Procter & Gamble; Ann Fudge, CEO of Young & Rubicam; Mike Ullman, CEO of JCPenney; Ellen Kullman, CEO of DuPont; Roger Enrico, CEO of PepsiCo; Dave Cote, CEO of Honeywell; and Jack Bogle; Founder of Vanguard, among others. The full list of award winners can be found here. 

The summit theme is “Genuine Intelligence on Artificial Intelligence: The Reality Behind the Vague Threats, Hopes, and Hype.”

Among the top leaders participating are the CEOs and/or founders of OpenAI, Walmart, The Coca-Cola Company, Microsoft, Disney, Amgen, Merck, Panera, Mattel, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, Moelis & Company, Lennar, Toll Brothers, American Airlines, Weyerhaueser, Marathon Petroleum, Unilever, Dick’s Sporting Goods, eBay, Ariel Capital, Otis Elevator, Amphenol, Snap-On, Ford, Xerox, Western & Southern, Cowen, Hearst Corporation, Abercrombie & Fitch, La-Z-Boy, Allstate, Sirius XM Radio, AMC, Marsh & McLennan, 1-800 Flowers, Medidata, Ethereum, DaVita, and Deloitte.

Our leadership partners include Deloitte, Evercore, Gladstone Place Partners, IBM, and Paul, Weiss.