Alan R. Novak

CFA Service: 1981–1985

Alan Richard Novak, an attorney and businessman, was the developer of the Ritz-Carlton, Aspen, and Mandarin Oriental Hotels in Washington, D.C.  He was most recently involved in energy and venture capital projects.  Novak received his undergraduate degree in 1955 from Yale University as a Navy Scholar.  He attended Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar and received a master’s degree in 1960 and returned to Yale to earn a law degree in 1963.  Novak spent a year as clerk to Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart before joining the law firm of Cravath, Swain & Moore until 1965, when he began a career in public service.   He was a legislative aide to Senator Edward Kennedy (1965–66); executive assistant to Undersecretary Walter Rostow, U.S. Department of State; member of the White House Communications Task Force (1967–68); and advisor to the White House chief of staff (1980).  He also taught at the Cardozo School of Law Yeshiva University in New York City.  He was the recipient of Yale University Law School’s traveling fellowship in 1962.