John Wood

Founder and CEO, Room to Read

John Wood

Founder and CEO, Room to Read

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Biography

John Wood is the founder of Room to Read, an organization that believes World Change Starts with Educated Children.® Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Since 2000, Room to Read has impacted the lives of nearly nine million children by providing increased access to high-quality educational opportunities through its network of libraries and schools, local language children’s books and its girls’ education program.

At age 35, Wood left his position as Director of Business Development for Microsoft Greater China region to form Room to Read. The business acumen honed there, combined with his passion and an unparalleled track record at changing the world, makes Wood a unique and inspiring speaker with universal appeal.

Wood’s award-winning memoir, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children (Harper Collins, 2006), tells how he raised over $350 million from a “standing start” to develop one of the fastest-growing nonprofits in history. The book was described by Publishers’ Weekly in a starred review as “an infectiously inspiring read.” Translated into 20 languages, it is popular with entrepreneurs, philanthropists and educators alike, and was selected by Amazon.com as one of the Top Ten Business Narratives of 2006 and voted a Top Ten Nonfiction title of 2006 by Hudson Booksellers. The book was also featured during Wood’s appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show and the resulting “Oprah’s Book Drive” with Room to Read raised over $3 million from viewers.

Wood’s follow up book, Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy (Viking Penguin, 2013), tells the story of how the organization successfully tackled the next steps of scaling beyond his wildest dreams while maintaining integrity and raising money in a collapsing economy.

Wood has been named by Goldman Sachs as one of the world’s 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, has been a three-time speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative and is a five-time winner of Fast Company Magazine’s Social Capitalist Award. He has been honored by Time Magazine’s “Asian Heroes” Award, selected as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum and is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He was selected by Barron’s as one of the “25 Best Givers” in 2009 and 2010, ranking 11th and 9th on the list, respectively. In 2014, Wood won the World’s Children’s Honorary Award Laureate through the World’s Children’s Prize, the annual educational program for the rights of the child and democracy — often called the Children’s Nobel Prize. In recognition of his passion to open libraries for the most under-served populations, he was described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “the Andrew Carnegie of the developing world.”

John Wood holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Colorado, and honorary doctorates from McGill University and the University of San Francisco. He also serves on the advisory board of the Clinton Global Initiative and is a frequent lecturer at Harvard Business School and at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Policy.

Speaker Videos

Spreading Education

Speech Topics

10 Lessons Learned On the Way to Helping Ten Million Children

Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

Re-Imagining Leadership

Scaling Success

PURPOSE: The New Competitive Advantage

Testimonials

"John Wood was great, from beginning to end. His assistant was great and easy to work with; he was easy to work with, was great on our planning call. And of course, best of all, he was incredibly inspirational at the event. The next day at several high-level meetings, people were quoting him, which is what we want. We want people to be moved to take action, which I think they will. Our event theme was “What Do You Do with an Idea,” which was based on a children’s book where a child nurtures an idea through ups and downs and changes the world. We wanted to challenge our audience to find the courage to nurture big ideas like: What would it take to cut our child poverty rate in half in the next 10 years? What ideas do we have about what it would look like to ensure every child enters school ready to learn? How could we cut the college remediation rate in half in the next five years? John Wood himself is an example of nurturing a BIG idea. But he was also an incredible messenger. He said to our audience, “Bold goals attract bold people. Who do you want to surround yourself with?” It was another great event for us, one people are still talking about. So thank you!!"

- Colorado Children's Campaign

"John did an outstanding job. I can only imagine how difficult it is to fly into a community for a day and try to deliver a meaningful and personal commencement address. He did a great job and people are still talking about it."

- Client

"Wood was an absolutely fantastic speaker. I think his real magic was being able to tie some of the current events in our community (which we shared with him prior to his remarks) to his own experiences. He also appeals broadly to both the nonprofit and corporate worlds (which we find important when soliciting corporate sponsorships of the event), particularly when explaining how applying his business experience to building a successful nonprofit. Additionally, he and his staff are wonderful to work with, and he was fantastic one on one with our donors at a pre-luncheon meet-and-greet reception. He is unbelievable. Amazing."

- Foundation for the Carolinas

"John spoke at our 500 person marketing conference and was an amazing inspiration to our global team. Here is someone who is literally changing the world, and he invites you to participate. He does so with humor, energy and no guilt. If you want to hear a story that will end with a standing ovation, invite John to speak (and then donate to his organization)!"

- Starbucks Coffee Company

"John is a breath of fresh air to executives and professionals who are typically caught up in their busy lives. He connects with people’s natural desire to do good for society. John was a big hit at our Software 2004 conference, where he received a standing ovation from over 1,000 CEOs, VPs and VCs. He is an engaging speaker who is guaranteed to make people passionate about life."

- Sand Hill Group

"John was fantastic! Everyone loved him and we were extremely pleased with having him at our conference."

- Michigan Nonprofit Association