Jim Buckmaster

Possibly the only CEO ever described by the business press as anti-establishment, a communist, and a socialistic anarchist, since 2000 Jim has led craigslist to be the most used classifieds in any medium, and one of the world's most popular websites, while maintaining its public service mission, non-corporate vibe, staff of less than 50.

jim buckmaster

Before devolving into management, Jim contributed craigslist's homepage design, multi-city architecture, discussion forums, search engine, community moderation system, self-posting process, personals categories (including missed connections), and best-of-craigslist.

Prior to craigslist, directed web development for Creditland (defunct) and Quantum. In 1994-95, he built the terabyte-scale, database-driven web interface at ICPSR through which researchers worldwide access the primary data archive for the social sciences.

After graduating summa cum laude from Virginia Tech (biochemistry), Jim attended medical school, studied classics, and made tofu at the University of Michigan. Now, aside from a few haiku, it's mostly business reads for him.

Ridiculously tall, Jim has been the subject of feature stories in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Wired, Fortune, Business Week, Guardian, Telegraph, Sunday Times, and SF Chronicle, and has made dozens of television appearances to rave reviews, including being denounced on Fox News by the late Reverend Jerry Falwell, (RIP).

In addition to his CEO duties, Jim manages the craigslist Charitable Fund, and serves as executive producer for craigslist TV. He writes intermittently on the craigslist blog

Media inquiries: press@craigslist.org