The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has had 18 presidents (16 inaugurated, 1 acting then inaugurated, 1 acting) in its 156-year history (as of 2017^[update]).

• William Barton Rogers (1862–1870, 1879–1881)
• John Daniel Runkle (1870–1878)
• Francis Amasa Walker (1881–1897)
• James Crafts (1897–1900)
• Henry Smith Pritchett (1900–1907)
• Arthur Amos Noyes (acting 1907–1909)
• Richard Cockburn Maclaurin (1909–1920)
• Elihu Thomson (acting 1920–1921, 1922–1923)
• Ernest Fox Nichols (1921–1922)
• Samuel Wesley Stratton (1923–1930)
• Karl Taylor Compton (1930–1948)
• James Rhyne Killian (1948–1959)
• Julius Adams Stratton (1959–1966)
• Howard Wesley Johnson (1966–1971)
• Jerome Wiesner (1971–1980)
• Paul Edward Gray (1980–1990)
• Charles Marstiller Vest (1990–2004)
• Susan Hockfield (2004–2012)
• L. Rafael Reif (2012–2022)
• Sally Kornbluth (Jan. 1, 2023 – Present)