Transforming the World through Business and Public Leadership

Craig Newmark
Founder of Craigslist

In his opening keynote to Penn Law’s Institute for Law & Global Development, Newmark inspired the participants by sharing his principles of fairness, opportunity and respect, his minimal profit business model, efforts to to empower women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), and investments in support of veterans and journalism. Craig Newmark is a Web pioneer, philanthropist, and a leading advocate on behalf of trustworthy journalism, veterans and military families, and other civic and social justice causes. When Craig turned Craigslist into a company, he monetized minimally, opting for a business model that prioritized "doing well by doing good." Today more than 5 billion ads have been posted on the site, the vast majority for free. In 2016, he created Craig Newmark Philanthropies to promote investment in organizations that effectively serve their communities and drive broad civic engagement at the grassroots level.