Contract-focused Definely has hired John Connolly, previously at Meta, to be its new Chief Product Officer (CPO). He takes on this vital role from New York-based Bruce Elliott, who now has the position of Principal Product Manager. Elliott joined Definely back in 2020.
Connolly has worked at several tech companies (see below), and most recently was Director of Product Management at Meta in London until March, 2025.
The hire comes at a time of fierce competition between contract-focused AI vendors, with a battle on multiple fronts taking shape, with vibe-coders, as well as Big AI (via Anthropic’s plug-ins), only making things more intense.
On the flipside, more lawyers are seeking to use AI tools for contract work. So, more competition, but potentially a growing market. Hence, a senior hire with experience at plenty of tech companies makes a lot of sense, especially in a key product development role.
As CPO, Connolly will support the executive team with Definely’s product development and align Definely’s long-term product roadmap with the company’s overall business strategy, they said.
Before Meta, he served as CPO for multiple VC- and PE-backed scale-ups. He was also the VP of Strategy and Business Development at Expedia and the CPO of SpringerNature.
John Connolly, Chief Product Officer of Definely, commented: ‘Definely is addressing one of the biggest challenges facing businesses today – the successful use of AI to deliver real business value. As the legal industry reaches a critical inflexion point, Definely is well-positioned to help law firms and in-house teams as they face rising workloads and growing complexity.
‘The primary challenge for AI isn’t just efficiency; it must also help to preserve human understanding and professional integrity, values at the core of Definely’s strategy. When one mistake can cost a firm or in-house team millions, it is paramount to ensure you have the necessary tooling to reduce risk and safeguard reputation and trust. I’m excited to lead an incredible team as we continue to evolve a product our customers love, and give them the confidence they deserve in today’s market.’
And Nnamdi Emelifeonwu, Co-Founder & CEO of Definely, added: ‘John is a versatile leader with a proven track record in both Big Tech and high-growth scale-ups, combining technical depth, commercial strategy and board-level leadership. Appointing John as CPO will be a significant step in driving the company’s international expansion and delivering innovative technological solutions for the legal sector.’
More about Definely here.
Congrats to John!
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