John Wood was born in 1964 in Connecticut and grew up in Pennsylvania. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado and an MBA from Northwestern University. From 1991-1999, Wood worked at Microsoft, holding several director positions. In 1998, while trekking in Nepal, Wood saw a school with few books and no computers. This inspired him to collect book donations from friends and family. He later co-founded Room to Read in 2001 to increase literacy and gender equality in education in developing countries. As of 2012, Room to Read has established over 1,600 schools and 13,500 libraries benefiting 6 million children.