Geoffrey Cowan

Geoffrey Cowan is a University Professor at the University of Southern California where he holds the Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership and directs the USC Annenberg School’s Center on Communication Leadership & Policy. A former Director of the Voice of America and former Dean of the USC Annenberg School, from 2010-16 he served as the inaugural president of the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, hosting three summit meetings with President Obama. His publications include The People v. Clarence Darrow: The Bribery Trial of America’s Greatest Lawyer, Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary, and (with the late Leroy Aarons) Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, which has been performed around the United States and had two three-week runs in China. He won the prime-time Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program as producer of Mark Twain and Me which starred Jason Robards. Mr. Cowan is married to Aileen Adams, and they have two children, Gabriel Cowan and Mandy Wolf.