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John Wood

John Wood

Keynote Speaker: Founder & Board Co-Chair of Room to Read; Former Microsoft Marketing Executive

John Wood Biography

John Wood is the Founder and Board Co-Chair of Room to Read, one of the fastest-growing and award-winning charities founded during this century. A former Microsoft marketing executive, Wood left the company in 1999 to start the organization. To date, Room to Read has opened over 1,500 schools and 13,600 libraries, distributed over 11 million books including 707 self-published original local language titles, and supported over 17,000 girls to succeed in secondary school and beyond. Due to the work of Room to Read, over six million children in 10 countries across Asia and Africa benefit via the lifelong gift of education and literacy. John has emulated his hero, Andrew Carnegie, by opening over five times as many libraries. He describes his efforts thus far as “total tip of the iceberg” and aspires to reach 10 million children by 2015.

John is a member of the Advisory Board of the Clinton Global Initiative. He was the first-ever Microsoft Alumni of the Year, an award bestowed by Bill and Melinda Gates. He is a five-time winner of Fast Company Magazine’s Social Capitalist Award, a three-time speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative, and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and was given a Presidential Citation by the American Library Association. The local language children’s publishing program he catalyzed at Room to Read was awarded with UNESCO’s Confucius Prize for Literacy in 2011. He has twice been named by Barron’s magazine as one of the world’s 25 Most Effective Philanthropists and was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

John teaches at the graduate level at the Wagner School of Public Policy at NYU and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His degrees include a Masters in Science in Business Administration, awarded magna cum laude (University of Colorado), a Masters in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Northwestern University and three honorary PhDs. When not traveling the world for Room to Read, he makes his home in New York City.

Creating Room to Read is John Wood’s idealistic dream turned into practical reality, the inside story of how a sensible businessman reached for the impossible—and seized it.

Contact a speaker booking agent to check availability on John Wood and other top speakers and celebrities.

John Wood Speaking Topics

Re-Imagining Leadership

As our world faces an unprecedented crisis of leadership, a "war for talent" rages, with the most visionary leaders building the most effective global teams. In this keynote, Wood inspires audiences to think differently and more boldly about what they can accomplish as leaders, talking candidly about his evolution as a leader, mistakes he's made along the way, and the lessons he's learned during two decades as a fast-rising Microsoft executive and as Founder of Room to Read.

Leaving Microsoft To Change The World

John Wood's first-person account of following his passion and the lessons learned in doing so. It is a popular "inspiring close" or "bring people to their feet" dinner speech at corporate, industry, and education conferences.

Purpose: The New Competitive Advantage

In this keynote, Wood discusses how corporate social responsibility represents the new competitive advantage; a way to re-engage customers and employees and improve the bottom line. He recalls his experiences using the ‘power of purpose’ to onboard resistant communities, motivate volunteers and enlist high-profile investors, while pointing to the growing number of corporations—like IBM and GE—that have begun building a ‘higher calling’ into their products and services. Wood demonstrates that “cause” is now the key to commercialism and inspires audiences to re-think old assumptions, dream big and take steps to align with the business world’s often-overlooked competitive advantage: purpose.

John Wood Videos

John Wood, Jr. speaks at the Aspen Institute's #WeaveThePeople ...
John Wood
Room to Read | John Wood & Saluom Lak

How to book John Wood?

Our booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure talent like John Wood for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment for over 15 years. The team at All American Entertainment represents and listens to the needs of organizations and corporations seeking to hire keynote speakers, celebrities or entertainers. Fill out a booking request form for John Wood, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get pricing information and check availability for John Wood or any other celebrity of your choice.

How much does it cost to book John Wood?

Booking fees for John Wood, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. Pricing often varies according to the circumstances, including the talent's schedule, market conditions, length of presentation, and the location of the event. Speaker fees listed on this website are intended to serve as a guideline only. In some cases, the actual quote may be above or below the stated range. For the most current fee to hire John Wood, please fill out the booking request form or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak with an experienced booking agent.

Who is the agent for John Wood?

All American Entertainment has successfully secured celebrity talent like John Wood for clients worldwide for more than 15 years. As a full-service talent booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Fill out the booking request form or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book John Wood for your next private or corporate function.

What is a full-service talent booking agency?

All American Speakers is a "buyers agent" and exclusively represents talent buyers, meeting planners and event professionals, who are looking to secure celebrities and speakers for personal appearances, speaking engagements, corporate entertainment, public relations campaigns, commercials, or endorsements. We do not exclusively represent John Wood or claim ourselves as the exclusive booking agency, business manager, publicist, speakers bureau or management for John Wood or any other speaker or celebrity on this website. For more information on how we work and what makes us unique, please read the AAE Advantage.


John Wood is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics including Inspirational, Personal Growth and Economy. The estimated speaking fee range to book John Wood for live events is $30,000 - $50,000, and for virtual events Below $10,000. John Wood generally travels from San Diego, CA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Hugh Evans, Ralph Nader and Rye Barcott. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling John Wood for an upcoming event.

John Wood Speaking Topics

  • Re-Imagining Leadership

    As our world faces an unprecedented crisis of leadership, a "war for talent" rages, with the most visionary leaders building the most effective global teams. In this keynote, Wood inspires audiences to think differently and more boldly about what they can accomplish as leaders, talking candidly about his evolution as a leader, mistakes he's made along the way, and the lessons he's learned during two decades as a fast-rising Microsoft executive and as Founder of Room to Read.

  • Leaving Microsoft To Change The World

    John Wood's first-person account of following his passion and the lessons learned in doing so. It is a popular "inspiring close" or "bring people to their feet" dinner speech at corporate, industry, and education conferences.

  • Purpose: The New Competitive Advantage

    In this keynote, Wood discusses how corporate social responsibility represents the new competitive advantage; a way to re-engage customers and employees and improve the bottom line. He recalls his experiences using the ‘power of purpose’ to onboard resistant communities, motivate volunteers and enlist high-profile investors, while pointing to the growing number of corporations—like IBM and GE—that have begun building a ‘higher calling’ into their products and services. Wood demonstrates that “cause” is now the key to commercialism and inspires audiences to re-think old assumptions, dream big and take steps to align with the business world’s often-overlooked competitive advantage: purpose.

John Wood Videos

John Wood, Jr. speaks at the Aspen Institute's #WeaveThePeople ...
John Wood
Room to Read | John Wood & Saluom Lak

How to book John Wood?

Our booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure talent like John Wood for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment for over 15 years. The team at All American Entertainment represents and listens to the needs of organizations and corporations seeking to hire keynote speakers, celebrities or entertainers. Fill out a booking request form for John Wood, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get pricing information and check availability for John Wood or any other celebrity of your choice.

How much does it cost to book John Wood?

Booking fees for John Wood, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. Pricing often varies according to the circumstances, including the talent's schedule, market conditions, length of presentation, and the location of the event. Speaker fees listed on this website are intended to serve as a guideline only. In some cases, the actual quote may be above or below the stated range. For the most current fee to hire John Wood, please fill out the booking request form or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak with an experienced booking agent.

Who is the agent for John Wood?

All American Entertainment has successfully secured celebrity talent like John Wood for clients worldwide for more than 15 years. As a full-service talent booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Fill out the booking request form or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book John Wood for your next private or corporate function.

What is a full-service talent booking agency?

All American Speakers is a "buyers agent" and exclusively represents talent buyers, meeting planners and event professionals, who are looking to secure celebrities and speakers for personal appearances, speaking engagements, corporate entertainment, public relations campaigns, commercials, or endorsements. We do not exclusively represent John Wood or claim ourselves as the exclusive booking agency, business manager, publicist, speakers bureau or management for John Wood or any other speaker or celebrity on this website. For more information on how we work and what makes us unique, please read the AAE Advantage.


John Wood is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics including Inspirational, Personal Growth and Economy. The estimated speaking fee range to book John Wood for live events is $30,000 - $50,000, and for virtual events Below $10,000. John Wood generally travels from San Diego, CA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Hugh Evans, Ralph Nader and Rye Barcott. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling John Wood for an upcoming event.

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This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent.

All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information.