Definely Appoints Meta Director as New Chief Product Officer

Definely has appointed John Connolly as Chief Product Officer, effective immediately, to lead product strategy at the AI-powered legal contract review company.

The appointment signals a significant leadership investment at a time when law firms and in-house legal teams face rising workloads and growing contract complexity. Connolly brings both Big Tech scale and startup growth experience to a company whose product sits inside the tools lawyers already use daily.

Connolly's Background

Connolly brings over 20 years of product management experience to the role. Most recently, he served as Director of Product Management at Meta, where he led the account integrity — also known as Trust & Safety — team across Facebook, Instagram, and all Advertiser accounts globally.

Before Meta, Connolly held CPO roles at multiple venture capital- and private equity-backed scale-ups, where he helped raise over $100 million in funding. He also served as VP of Strategy and Business Development at Expedia and as CPO of SpringerNature, an information services business.

His career spans regulated industries and complex platform environments, giving him direct experience scaling R&D teams under compliance pressure.

The Problem Definely Solves

Law firms and in-house legal departments routinely review lengthy, high-stakes contracts under time pressure. A single error in a contract can cost a firm or in-house team millions of dollars.

Most AI legal tools require lawyers to leave their existing workflow and operate on a separate platform. Definely addresses this directly by integrating within Microsoft Word, the tool most lawyers already work in. This removes the friction of switching between systems while reviewing complex documents.

Definely provides out-of-the-box solutions that target specific workflow bottlenecks in contract review, improving both the quality and efficiency of how lawyers use generative AI tools.

Connolly's Mandate

As CPO, Connolly will lead Definely's product development and align the long-term product roadmap with the company's overall business strategy. His role sits within the executive team.

Connolly addressed the broader challenge AI must clear in legal services: "Definely is addressing one of the biggest challenges facing businesses today — the successful use of AI to deliver real business value. 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."

He added: "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."

What Leadership Says

Nnamdi Emelifeonwu, Co-Founder and CEO of Definely, framed the hire as a direct driver of the company's next growth phase: "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."

The appointment reflects Definely's intent to scale internationally and deepen its product offering for both law firms and corporate legal teams.

Connolly's combination of enterprise-scale experience at Meta and hands-on startup growth — including leading fundraising that exceeded $100 million across multiple companies — positions him to manage both the technical and commercial dimensions of that expansion.

About Definely

Definely is an AI-powered legaltech company that helps lawyers efficiently and accurately review complex contracts. Its product integrates directly within Microsoft Word, allowing legal professionals to apply AI-driven contract review without changing their existing workflow. Definely serves both law firms and in-house legal departments, providing solutions designed to reduce risk, improve accuracy, and increase the overall value of generative AI in legal work.

Read more About Definely here:

Definely

Defeyene Legal Solutions Limited ('Definely')