Craig Newmark is the ‘Craig’ of Craigslist, the founder of the 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 magazine named him one of the 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

Craigslist has grown phenomenally since Craig started it in 1995 in his bedroom as a simple email exchange service. serving hundreds of cities in dozens of 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 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.

He is a prominent voice on the ways the Internet can promote democracy and better government.