John Wood (activist)

John J. Wood (born January 29, 1964) is an American activist who was the founder of two global education charities: Room to Read and U-Go. Wood started Room to Read in 2000 after quitting his executive position as Microsoft's director of business development for the greater China region. Along with his co-founders Erin Ganju and Dinesh Shrestha, he built out a global team that has raised over $750 million in funding commitments and has brought education programs to over 26 million children in 20 low income countries.

In late 2021, he announced in the Financial Times his decision to start a new non-profit, U-Go, with the aim of helping tens of thousands of young women in low income countries to pursue higher education through targeted scholarships, life skills training and job placement. U-Go was launched via a live Bloomberg interview on February 7, 2021, and is now working in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam with plans to add on Nepal and the Philippines.

At the invitation of former President Bill Clinton, Wood served four terms on the advisory board of the Clinton Global Initiative and was a frequent speaker at their annual event. He currently serves on the boards of the Singapore-based private equity firm Asia Partners and Hong Kong–based plant-based protein innovator Green Monday Holdings. He is also on the advisory boards of Global Citizen Year and New Story.