Craig Newmark is the Craig of Craigslist, the founder of the non-commercial centralized network for worldwide urban and regional communities featuring classified advertisements with discussion boards.

Craig speaks on the future of online community and commerce, as one of its most successful innovators and practitioners.

Called "The Wizard of the Local" by Time Magazine, Craig was named to its 2005 Time 100. He was named Person of the Year at the 9th Annual Webby Awards, also in 2005, and in 2008 BusinessWeek named him one of the 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

Started in 1995 in Craigs bedroom as a simple email exchange service, Craigslist now has around 10 billion page views per month, about 35 million unique visitors, and serves more than 550 cities in 55 countries. Craigslist was incorporated in 1999.

As huge as Craigslist has become, it remains a model of modesty and community service. The Craigslist motto is "Give people a break"a break from how difficult our lives are. Craig Newmark is chairman of Craigslist and works full time as a customer service rep, fighting off spammers, scammers, bad New York apartment listers and other evildoers. He is a prominent voice on the ways the Internet can promote democracy and better government.

He has 25 years experience as a web-oriented software engineer, and worked for IBM for 18 years, as well as for Charles Schwab & Co. He holds a masters degree in computer science.

With Craigslist, Craig Newmark launched one of the Net's most successful ventures, combining customer and public service with savvy business strategy and marketing innovation. Craigslist serves as a non-commercial community bulletin board with classifieds and discussion forums. Using a common sense, down-to-earth approach, Craigslist strives to make the 'net more personal and authentic, while advocating social responsibility through the promotion of small, non-profit organizations. It focuses on helping people with basic needs, starting with housing and jobs, with a pervasive culture of trust.

Craigslist has quietly emerged as one of the top 10 internet companies in the world in terms of page views, attracting 10+ billion page views per month and 35 million visitors from more than 550 cities and 55 countries per month. It also has a triple-digit annual growth rate. Its sole source of revenue is paid employment ads in three cities, San Francisco Bay Area, New York and Los Angeles. 99.2% of Craigslist advertisements remain free.

Through Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Newmark has contributed more than $40 million to journalism initiatives since 2015. In 2017, he donated $1 million each to ProPublica and the Poynter Institute. He made a $20 million endowment to the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, which was subsequently renamed the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Newmark also has a private charitable foundation, to which he contributed $50 million in 2016. Newmark's foundation supports military families, voter registration efforts, and women in technology. In 2018 Newmark's donations totaled $143 million.

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