John Wood is the Founder and CEO of U-GO, which is dedicated to empowering tens of thousands of young women in low-income countries with the opportunity to pursue a university education. Early in his career, he was Microsoft’s Director of Marketing for the Asia-Pacific region and the Director of Business... Read more
John Wood is the Founder and CEO of U-GO, which is dedicated to empowering tens of thousands of young women in low-income countries with the opportunity to pursue a university education. Early in his career, he was Microsoft’s Director of Marketing for the Asia-Pacific region and the Director of Business Development for Greater China. John left Microsoft in 1999 to found Room to Read, where he spent 20 years as the Founding CEO, Board Chair and globe-trotting ambassador. He built and led teams that have raised over $900 million in philanthropic capital and have brought award-winning education programs to over 30 million children in 26 low-income countries.
John Wood has five published books, including Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, which was named a Top ten book of the year by both Amazon and Hudson’s Booksellers and described by Publisher’s Weekly as “an infectiously inspiring read”. His memoir was translated into 20 languages and was featured in hundreds of outlets including Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, the New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. His appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show to announce Oprah’s Book Drive raised over $3 million.
He has been named by Goldman Sachs as one of the world’s 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. At the invitation of Bill Clinton, he served three terms on the Advisory Board of the Clinton Global Initiative and was a featured speaker on several occasions. John was named an “Asian Hero” by Time magazine and is a five-time winner of Fast Company’s Social Capitalist Award. He was selected by the World Economic Forum for its inaugural class of Young Global Leaders. The Tribeca Film Festival made him a Lifetime Achievement Honoree. John is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and was twice selected by Barron’s as one of the “25 Best Givers.” In 2014, Queen Silvia of Sweden awarded John with the World’s Children’s Prize, also called the Children’s Nobel Prize.
John holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Colorado and has received four honorary Ph.D’s. He is a founding Advisory Board member for both Asia Partners – a $1 billion Singapore-based private equity fund focused on emerging technology firms – and XA Network, the leading Southeast Asian angel investing platform. He is the Asia Partner for Concentric Equity, a $2.5 billion Chicago-based private equity fund for whom he co-leads Asian investment strategy. John previously served on the Board of Directors for Net Impact and One Acre Fund and is currently on the Advisory Boards of New Story and Flight School.
Explores how today’s most impactful leaders align profit with purpose, driving both business success and social good. Based on real world experiences creating social impact partnerships with over 100 innovative companies, this inspiring talk challenges leaders to find ways to turn purpose into a sustainable competitive advantage.
Dives into real-world lessons from the front lines of social change, offering bold strategies for leading in complex, rapidly evolving environments. This talk pushes leaders to commit to bold goals, take risks, and lead with guts, grit, and game-changing vision.
What would cause a 35 year old working at the top echelons of one of the world’s most successful technology companies to throw it all away in order to devote his life to building school libraries in Nepal? In this inspiring talk, John Wood shares his twenty year odyssey in...
Demonstrates how the same strategies that fuel high-performing companies can be harnessed to tackle society’s toughest challenges. This talk equips changemakers with practical tools to scale impact, measure what matters, and lead with both head and heart. It also offers the inspiration of a real world example of how one...
Unpacks how forward-thinking leaders can cultivate environments where innovation thrives, agility is second nature, and teams rally around bold, shared goals. Few social entrepreneurs have raised over $1 billion and fewer have impacted over 30 million children. Based upon his 25 years as one of the world’s most impactful social...