President John Sexton is the fifteenth President of New York University, Benjamin Butler Professor of Law and New York University Law School's Dean Emeritus, having served as Dean for 14 years. President Sexton joined the Law School’s faculty in 1981, was named the school’s Dean in 1998 and was designated the University's President in 2001.

President Sexton is Chair of the Independent Colleges and Universities of New York, Chair of the New York Academy of Sciences and Vice Chair of the American Council on Education. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of both the Association of American University Presidents and the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves on the Boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Institute of International Education and the Association for a Better New York. While Dean of the Law School, he was President of the Association of American Law Schools. He served as the Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2003 to 2006 and Chair of the Federal Reserve Systems Council of Chairs in 2006.

President Sexton received a BA in History from Fordham College, an MA in Comparative Religion and a PhD in History of American Religion from Fordham University, and a JD magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. In July 2008, he was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, the national order of the Legion of Honor of France.

President John Sexton is participating in the World potential; making education meet the challenge and the What makes a truly global university? sessions.