Craig Newmark

A Web-oriented software engineer by training, with 30 years of IT experience at companies such as IBM and Bank of America, Craig now spends his days working as a customer service rep at craigslist. In 1995, while Craig was working at Schwab, he started craigslist as an e-mail list for friends and co-workers about events going on in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1999, Craig retired from IT consulting to work full-time on craigslist. What started as a fun side project in Craig's living room has since grown into one of the busiest sites on the Internet. Craig continues to embrace his inner nerd (although he no longer wears thick black glasses that are held together with tape, and he retired the plastic pocket protector some years ago). Craig is involved with a variety of community efforts and is particularly interested in organizations promoting public diplomacy, Mideast peace and new forms of media such as participatory journalism. He's on the boards of the Sunlight Foundation, OneVoice, Consumers Union, FactCheckED, and VotoLatino.