Craig Newfield
2026 ALI Fellow

Craig Newfield brings to ALI more than 25 years of legal and executive leadership across the technology and nonprofit sectors. As general counsel to multiple technology companies, he served as a thought partner for executive teams and boards, driving governance, risk management, IP, operational and go-to-market programs and dozens of M&A, partnership, IPO and capital markets transactions. Craig most recently served as general counsel at Coupa Software, an AI-powered business spend management platform, and previously was general counsel at Dynatrace, On Belay Health, Progress Software, Acronis, AMICAS, MRO Software, and Interleaf, leading their global legal teams and partnering with executive leadership to address strategic and operational opportunities and challenges.

As his ALI project, Craig is a Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, helping to launch Frankly, an open-source video platform that reduces polarization and strengthens civic participation through large-scale, face-to-face deliberation.  Craig also serves as General Counsel at Braver Angels, the nation’s largest cross-partisan, volunteer-led movement promoting Courageous Citizenship, building together across political and societal differences to bridge divides, rebuild trust and strengthen our democratic republic.  Craig previously served as assistant director in MIT's Office of Sponsored Programs, where he led a team negotiating sponsored research arrangements with global foundations, governments, and corporations. His work advanced innovation across disciplines while strengthening institutional processes and risk oversight, and he contributed thought leadership in IP policy, technology licensing, university-industry collaboration, and complex multi-party international partnerships.