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.

From 1991-1999, John 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.

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, this 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.

Wood officially co-founded Room to Read in 2001 with Dinesh Shrestha and Erin Ganju. Currently 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 July 2012, Room to Read has established over 1,600 schools and 13,500 libraries, distributed 11 million books, and published 707 local-language children's books—benefiting 6 million children to date.

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.

This are the examples of his books: Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's

Odyssey to Educate the World's Children. (Harper Collins, 2006)

"Memo to Billionaires--We're Ready for You." (with Matt Flannery of Kiva) CNBC.com (September 27, 2010)

Done By: law Jia Hao (Group Leader), Choo Chiang Hee (Group Member),

Ryan Chng (Group Member)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wood_(Room_to_Read)

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