Speakers & Awardees

Actor, producer, director, author

Award-winning actor and Emerson College alum Henry Winkler celebrates 50 years of success in Hollywood and continues to be in demand as an actor, producer, and director, as well as a best-selling author.  

Winkler co-starred on the HBO dark comedy Barry, and in 2018, won his first Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. Additionally, he won two Television Critics Choice Awards and was nominated for both a Golden Globe and SAG Award for the role. Best known as “The Fonz” on Happy Days, he won two Golden Globe Awards and was nominated three times for an Emmy Award. He has appeared in over 100 television series and specials. Some of his feature film credits include Night Shift, Here Comes the Boom, The Waterboy, Click, Heroes, Holes, and Scream. Winkler is also a well-known children’s book author. He and his writing partner, Lin Oliver, are publishing their 41st children’s book, Detective Duck, this November. His autobiography, BEING HENRY…The Fonz and Beyond, was on the New York Times bestseller list for 11 weeks.

While at Emerson, Winkler pledged the Alpha Pi Theta fraternity, acted in numerous productions, and was involved with WERS. He holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and a BFA in Theatre and an LHD from Emerson College.   

Chair, Board of Trustees, Emerson College
Legislator, Dutchess County, NY
President and Co-Founder, Compitium

Eric Alexander is completing his term as chair of Emerson College’s Board of Trustees. Alexander has served as a member of the College’s Board for nearly two decades, and in the role of chair since 2021. During his Board tenure, he has served as chair of the Investment Committee and as a member of the Academic Affairs, Finance, Audit, Trusteeship, and Institutional Advancement Committees.

A first-generation American and the first of his family to graduate from college, Alexander credits Emerson with “changing his life” and has dedicated his service on the Board to providing opportunities for talented students to study and thrive at Emerson, regardless of their backgrounds. As chair, he has been committed to ensuring Emerson’s ongoing presence as the leading academic institution dedicated to preparing students for leadership roles in the fields of communication, media, entertainment, and the arts.

In addition to his Board service, Alexander has led a successful career as an executive leader. In 2020, he co-founded Compitium, an integrated consulting and marketing firm that advises financial services organizations. In 2025, he was elected to the Dutchess County (NY) Legislature. Previously, Alexander spent two decades at the helm of Wall Street Access, a New York Stock Exchange member brokerage firm. He began his career at leading advertising and public relations agencies, including Ketchum and Burson-Marsteller. He holds a BS degree in Speech from Emerson College. 
 

Associate Director for Community Engagement; Elma Lewis Center; Division of Community, Culture, and Belonging; Emerson College

Helen Dreher Credle is the associate director for community engagement in the Elma Lewis Center in the Division of Community, Culture, and Belonging at Emerson College. She leads engagement and programming for the Elma Lewis Center’s storytelling work, including its Living Stories Project: Documenting Boston’s Black Luminaries in the Arts, Education, and Civil Rights.

Credle’s work focuses on advancing the College’s commitment to creativity, inclusion, equity, and expression, and building and strengthening its relationships with neighborhood-based organizations. She is a frequent speaker, including at Emerson College and Harvard University, and neighborhood organizations. Her presentations focus on her seven decades of experience with community engagement and the importance of intergenerational collaborations between campus and neighborhood communities.

Prior to her Emerson role, Credle led community engagement programs for several organizations, including the New England Conservatory of Music, the City of Boston’s former Office of Human Rights, Massachusetts Department of Corrections, and the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts. Credle currently serves as a board member of the Mayor’s Advisory Council for the City of Boston’s Age Strong Commission.

Credle always credits who she is to her connections with thousands of people, mentors, and ancestors. She collaborated closely with Susan Batson, Ruth Batson, Melnea Cass, Elma Lewis, Talley Beatty, Arthur Mitchell, Light Man Al Patricelli, Malcolm X, Oscar Brown Jr., John Sdoucas, James Baldwin, Bob Credle, and incarcerated community members and their families. Her practice integrates community engagement, dance, music, archiving, youth and elder education, fashion, and carceral justice and re-entry. She also dedicated time to marry, raise children, and care for her family.