Meet Our Notable Alumni
Many Chi Omega Sisters go on to achieve amazing feats after they graduate college.
The women showcased below are some of Chi Omega's famous alumni.
Business
Beta Alpha Chapter
Safra A. Catz
Banker and Technology Excecutive
Safra Ada Catz is an American billionaire banker and technology executive. She is the CEO of Oracle Corporation. She has been an executive at Oracle since April 1999, and a board member since 2001. In April 2011, she was named co-president and chief financial officer, reporting to founder Larry Ellison.
Alpha Beta Chapter
Kelsey Barnard Clark
Chef
Bravo Top Chef Winner Season 16
Psi Chapter
Nancy Walton Laurie
Business Women
Nancy Walton Laurie is a Business Women and American billionaire, as an heir to the Walmart fortune.
Xi Alpha Chapter
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Alice Sheets Marriott was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. She was married to J. Willard Marriott, founder of the hospitality company Marriott Corp.
Theta Chapter
Cynthia Germanotta
Philanthropist, Activist and Entrepreneur
Cynthia Louise Germanotta is an American philanthropist, activist, and entrepreneur. She is the president of the Born This Way Foundation, which she co-founded with her daughter Lady Gaga in 2012.
Government
Phi Detla Chapter
Marsha Blackburn
Politician
United States Senator representation Tennessee. Former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives representing Tennessee,
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Martha Layne Collins
Secretary of Education
Martha Layne Collins is an American former businesswoman and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky; she was elected as the state's 56th governor from 1983 to 1987, the first woman to hold the office and the only one to date. Prior to that, she served as the 48th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, under John Y.
Shirley Hufstedler
Secretary of Education
Shirley Ann Mount Hufstedler was an American attorney and judge who served as the first United States secretary of education from 1979 to 1981. She previously served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1968 to 1979.
Psi Chapter
Blanche Lincoln
Politician
Blanche Lambert Lincoln is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Arkansas from 1999 to 2011. She was the Youngest Elected Female Senator.
Sigma Zeta Chapter
Molly Beth Malcolm
Politician
Molly Beth Beene Malcolm is an American politician and former school teacher. She is a former chairperson of the Texas Democratic Party and a current member of the Texarkana College Board of Trustees based in Texarkana.
Omicron Beta Chapter
Jen Psaki
White House Press Secretary
Jennifer Rene Psaki is an American television political analyst and former government official. A political advisor who served under both the Obama and Biden administrations, she served the Biden administration as the 34th White House press secretary until May 2022.
Pi Beta Chapter
Patricia Schroeder
Politician
Patricia Nell Scott Schroeder was an American politician who represented Colorado's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, Schroeder was the first female U.S. Representative elected from Colorado.
Kappa Chapter
Virginia Smith
Politician
Virginia Dodd Smith was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1991 from the Third Congressional District of Nebraska. She was the first and to date only woman from Nebraska to hold a seat in the House. Before serving in Congress, Smith chaired the American Farm Bureau Women for twenty years.
Nu Gamma Chapter
Joanna Shields
UK Minister & CEO
Joanna Shields, Baroness Shields, OBE is a British-American technology industry veteran who currently serves as Group CEO for BenevolentAI. Shields previously served as UK Minister for Internet Safety and Security, Under-Secretary of State, and Advisor on the Digital Economy to David Cameron.
Iota Chapter
Carole Keeton Strayhorn
Texas Comptroller
Carole Stewart Keeton, formerly known as Carole Keeton McClellan, Carole Keeton Rylander and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, is an American politician and the former Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Kappa Beta Chapter
Alison Lundergan Grimes
Secretary of State
Alison Case Lundergan Grimes is an American lawyer and Democratic politician who was the secretary of state of Kentucky from 2012 until 2020. Grimes was elected in 2011 after defeating incumbent Elaine Walker in the Democratic primary and Republican candidate Bill Johnson in the general election.
Lambda Alpha Chapter
Mary Ann Tobin
UK Minister & CEO
Joanna Shields, Baroness Shields, OBE is a British-American technology industry veteran who currently serves as Group CEO for BenevolentAI. Shields previously served as UK Minister for Internet Safety and Security, Under-Secretary of State, and Advisor on the Digital Economy to David Cameron.
Omnicron Beta Chapter
Stephanie Murphy
U.S. Representative
Stephanie Murphy is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Florida's 7th congressional district from 2017 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated incumbent Republican John Mica in 2016.
Science & Education
Mu Kappa Chapter
Susan Athey
Economist
Susan Carleton Athey is an American economist. She is the Economics of Technology Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the first female winner of the John Bates Clark Medal. She served as the consulting chief economist for Microsoft for six years and was a consulting researcher at Microsoft Research.
Kappa Lambda Chapter
Kathleen Rubins
NASA Astronaut
Kathleen Hallisey Rubins is an American microbiologist and NASA astronaut. She became the 60th woman to fly in space when she launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on July 7, 2016. She returned to Earth in Kazakhstan on October 30, 2016, aboard a Soyuz.She was a crew member of Expedition 48/49 and Expedition 63/64 of the ISS. Rubins has spent a total of 300 days, 1 hour, and 31 minutes in space which is the fourth most days in space by a U.S female astronaut.
Tau Delta Chapter
Janet Morgan Riggs
Academic Administrator
Janet Morgan Riggs is an American psychologist and academic administrator. She served as the 14th President of Gettysburg College from 2009 to 2019. Riggs, a member of the Gettysburg College class of 1977, has held several positions at the college, including professor of psychology, interim provost, provost, executive assistant to the president, and interim president.
Xi Chapter
Dawn Netsch
Law Professor & Politician
Dawn Clark Netsch was an American professor of law at Northwestern University and an Illinois politician. A member of the Democratic Party in the United States, she served in the Illinois State Senate from 1972 to 1990, and as the Illinois Comptroller from 1991 through 1994. In 1994 she was the first woman to be nominated by a major political party to run for Governor of Illinois. She co-authored the legal textbook, State and Local Government in a Federal System.
Pi Gamma Chapter
Susan Helms
NASA Astronaut
Susan Jane Helms is a retired United States Air Force lieutenant general and NASA astronaut. She was the commander, of the 14th Air Force (Air Forces Strategic); and commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Space at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Helms was a crew member on five Space Shuttle missions and was a resident of the International Space Station (ISS) for over five months in 2001. While participating in ISS Expedition 2, she and Jim Voss conducted an 8-hour and 56-minute spacewalk, the world record for the longest spacewalk. In 2020, she was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for accomplishments in civil and military space programs.
Epsilon Delta Chapter
Martha Dunagin Saunders
Academic Official
Martha Dunagin Saunders is an American professor and academic official. Saunders has served as the chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the ninth president of the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) where she replaced embattled president Shelby F. Thames. She is currently serving as president of the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida.
Literature
Nu Beta Chapter
Harper Lee
Novelist
Nelle Harper Lee was an American novelist. She wrote the 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird that won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and became a classic of modern American literature. She was also the Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.
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Sigma Epsilon Chapter
Ellen Gilchrist
Author
Ellen Gilchrist is an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. She won a National Book Award for her 1984 collection of short stories, Victory Over Japan.
Sigma Chapter
Frances Mayes
Author
Frances Mayes is an American writer. Her 1996 memoir Under the Tuscan Sun. was on the New York Times Best Seller list for over two years and was the basis for the film Under the Tuscan Sun.
Entertainment
Psi Chapter
Maggie Benton
Miss Arkansas 2017
Miss Arkansas 2017.
Tau Chapter
Lynda Shea
Businesswoman and Beauty Pageant Titleholder
Lynda Lee Shea is an American businesswoman and beauty pageant titleholder who was Miss Mississippi 1959 and Miss America 1960. Shea is president of Shea Design & French Country Imports in Memphis, Tennessee.
Nu Beta Chapter
Sylvia Hitchcock
Beauty Queen
Sylvia Louise Hitchcock-Carson was an American model and beauty queen who held the title of Miss Alabama United States and Miss United States, and was crowned Miss Universe 1967.
Eta Chapter
Lucy Liu
Actress
Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress. Her accolades include winning a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Seoul International Drama Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award.
Tau Chapter
Mary Ann Mobley
Miss American
Mary Ann Mobley was an American actress, television personality, and Miss America 1959.
Theta Beta Chapter
Catt Sadler
Entertainment Reporter
Catt Sadler is an entertainment reporter who is best known for her work in E! News, E! News Weekend and Daily Pop.
Theta Kappa Chapter
Angela Kinsey
Actress
Angela Faith Kinsey is an American actress. She played Angela Martin in the sitcom The Office and appeared in the sitcoms Your Family or Mine and Haters Back Off. Since The Office, Kinsey has appeared in Netflix's Tall Girl, Disney+'s Be Our Chef, A.P. Bio, and is currently a panelist on MTV's Deliciousness.
Nu Beta Chapter
Sela Ward
Actress
Sela Ann Ward is an American actress, author, and producer. Her breakthrough TV role was as Teddy Reed in the NBC drama series Sisters, for which she received her first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1994.
Sports
Xi Chapter
Christine Brennan
Sports Columnist
Christine Brennan is a sports columnist for USA Today, a commentator on ABC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour, and NPR, and a best-selling author. She was the first female sports reporter for the Miami Herald in 1981, the first woman at the Washington Post on the Washington Redskins beat in 1985, and the first president of the Association for Women in Sports Media in 1988.
Xi Zeta
Pat Summitt
College Basketball Head Coach
Patricia Susan Summitt was an American women's college basketball head coach who accrued 1,098 career wins, the most in college basketball history at the time of her retirement. She served as the head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team from 1974 to 2012.
Epsilon Gamma Chapter
Melissa McNamara
Golfer
Melissa McNamara Luellen is the head women's golf coach for Auburn University, and a former American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour.
Xi Zeta Chapter
Lin Dunn
Basketball Coach
Lin Dunn is an American women's basketball coach, currently general manager with the Indiana Fever. She is most known for being the first coach and general manager for the Seattle Storm. She has more than 500 wins to her name.