Speakers

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 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.

John 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.

Check out a Bloomberg interview here.