John Wood (activist)


John J. Wood is the Founder of Room to Read, a global non-profit organization focused on literacy and gender equality in education. He is the author of Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children and the children's book Zak the Yak with Books on His Back. He is a four-term member of the Clinton Global Initiative's Advisory Board and a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. Wood was selected for the inaugural class of Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum and was awarded Microsoft's first "Alumni of the Year" award by Bill and Melinda Gates. Wood has served on the Board of Directors for Net Impact and One Acre Fund, and is currently an Advisory Board member of Global Citizen Year, New Story and Possible Health.

Early life

John Wood was born in January 1964, in Hartford, Connecticut, where he spent his early childhood. His family later settled in Athens, Pennsylvania, where he attended high school. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado, and a master's degree in business administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He has received honorary PhD's from McGill University, the University of San Francisco, Westminster University, and Wofford College.
From 1991-1999, Wood worked as an executive for Microsoft. His positions included Director of Marketing for Australia, Director of Marketing for the Asia-Pacific region and Director of Business Development for Greater China.

''Leaving Microsoft to Change the World''

Wood took a vacation from his work at Microsoft in 1998 to trek through the Himalayas. While trekking, he met a "resource director" for the schools in the Annapurna Circuit of Nepal, with whom he visited a primary school that contained 450 children and only a handful of books—none age-appropriate. Upon seeing Wood's reaction to the lack of books, the school’s headmaster suggested, "Perhaps, sir, you will someday come back with books," which inspired Wood to solicit book donations from family and friends via email sent from an Internet cafe in Kathmandu.
A year later, Wood returned to the school with 3,000 books—all donated in response to his email appeal to friends and family. Soon thereafter, he left his job at Microsoft entirely to devote himself full-time to Books for Nepal, a side project that would eventually form the foundation for Room to Read.
Leaving Microsoft was initially published in North America by Harper Collins in August 2006, and was subsequently published in 21 languages. It was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2007, with "Oprah's Book Drive" for Room to Read raising over $3 million. The memoir was selected by the American Booksellers Association for its BookSense Notable Books List. It was also named one of the Top Ten non-fiction books of 2006 by Hudson's Booksellers and a Top Ten business narrative of 2006 by Amazon.com. The sequel—titled Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy was published by Penguin in February, 2013.

Room to Read

Wood co-founded Room to Read in 2001 with Dinesh Shrestha and Erin Ganju. Operating in ten countries throughout Asia and Africa the organization focuses on increasing literacy and gender equality in education in developing countries. Its programs develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.
The organization celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2010, which included the opening of its 10,000th library, construction of its 1,000th school, and support of its 10,000th girl through the organization's Girls' Education program.
As of Q1 2016, Room to Read has led over 2,400 school infrastructure projects, opened over 18,000 libraries filled with 16 million books, and published over 1,200 original new local-language children's book titles with local authors and artists. There are over 37,000 girls who have benefited from participation in the organization's long-term girls education program.

''Zak the Yak with Books on his Back''

Wood authored his first children's book, Zak the Yak with Books on His Back, in 2010. The book, written in rhyme and illustrated by Nepali artist Abin Shrestha, tells the story of Room to Read in a manner accessible to school children. Wood has said that with the book he aims to inspire children to take action. Self-published by Room to Read with costs underwritten by The Republic of Tea, all revenue from Zak the Yak goes directly to the organization's programs.

Television and Radio

Wood appears frequently on television and radio, with multiple appearances on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC's Squawk Box, Channel News Asia, CNN, CNN Headline News, MSNBC, PBS and Tavis Smiley. He has also been profiled or interviewed on Charlie Rose, CBS Evening News, CTV, France24, Globo, the Katie Couric Show, KQED, the Oprah Winfrey Show, Radio France International, WAMU WNYC and numerous others.

Published works

Wood has received the following honours:
Wood lives with his wife Amy Powell in Hong Kong. He travels roughly 200 days per year for media, public speaking and fund-raising opportunities. His Twitter ID is @johnwoodRTR and he currently has approximately 380,000 followers. His hobbies include running, skiing, hiking, travel, reading, and wine. He has run 13 marathons, traveled to over 50 countries, appeared as an extra in Law and Order and is currently working on his fifth book.