• Overview
• Frequent Questions
• Our History
• Partners
• Awards & Recognition
• Financials
• Career Opportunities

• Management Team
• International Directors
• Board of Directors
• Advisory Board

Management Philosophy

Room to Read's goal is to combine the best of private and public sector management in order to become the trusted global educational development organization. Our leadership team is comprised of veterans of such venerable corporations as Goldman Sachs, Gap, Microsoft and Unilever, along with former managers from CARE, The Nature Conservancy and the World Health Organization. They have taught in overseas locations ranging from Kuwait to Mongolia to South Korea, and have all spent considerable parts of their careers involved in international business and social causes. Our organization is bound by a shared commitment to hiring and retaining a talented, passionate global team, maintaining financial and programmatic transparency, engaging in true partnerships with local communities to empower them to improve their situation, and being faithful stewards of donors' investments in Room to Read. Together, we seek to provide millions of children in the developing world with the lifelong gift of education.

Executive Team

John Wood
Founder and CEO

John is the Founder and CEO of Room to Read. He started Room to Read after a fast-paced and distinguished career with Microsoft from 1991 to 1999. He was in charge of marketing and business development teams throughout Asia, including Director of Business Development for the Greater China region and as Director of Marketing for the Asia-Pacific region. John brings to Room to Read a vision for a scalable solution to developing world educational problems, an intense focus on results, and an ability to attract a world-class group of employees, volunteers, and investors. John focuses on long-term strategy, capital acquisition, public speaking, and media.

John was selected as the second recipient of the Draper Richards Fellowship, has twice been chosen for the Skoll Foundation award for social entrepreneurship, and has led Room to Read to three consecutive selections for the prestigious "Social Capitalist" by Fast Company magazine and the Monitor Group. In 2004, he was named as one of Time Magazine's "Asian Heroes" - the only non-Asian ever selected to receive this award. He is also the author of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World (Harper Collins; September, 2006).

John is an active public speaker, especially to business audiences, on the subjects of corporate social responsibility and building a world-class non-profit organization. His work has been profiled by Bloomberg Television, CNBC, CNN, Fast Company, Newsweek, The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and USA Today. John holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Northwestern University and a Bachelor's of Arts degree in Finance from the University of Colorado.

Erin Ganju
Chief Operating Officer

Erin has been with Room to Read since 2001 and has led the collaborative effort with our in-country teams to design Room to Read's programs and launch new Room to Read countries. She currently manages all day to day operations for the organization, overseeing the Programs, Development, Finance and Human Resource departments. Erin is an experienced international business development professional having worked most recently as Vice President, Business Development for Dejima, Inc. Erin's previous professional experience also includes having worked for two large, multinational companies: Unilever N.V. and Goldman, Sachs & Co. She has spent extensive time working overseas, particularly in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. Erin holds a combined bachelor's and master's in International Relations and Economics from Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C.

Joanne T. Chou
Chief Financial Officer

Joanne joins Room to Read with over twenty years of experience in banking and international trade, real estate and corporate finance, investment management, and marketing strategy. During her career, she has arranged and structured more than $8 billion in secured and unsecured debt for real estate acquisitions and development, project and equipment financings, and corporate and general purposes. Prior to joining Room to Read, she was managing director of finance at MacFarlane Partners, a private real estate investment manager in San Francisco, where she was responsible for, among other things, obtaining financing for the firm's affordable housing investments. Other previous positions were with Barclays Global Investors' global index and markets group in San Francisco, Bank of America's international wholesale banking unit in Hong Kong, and The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan's U.S. corporate banking unit in Los Angeles. Joanne is a member of the State Bar of California and the Financial Women's Association. She also serves on the board of directors of San Francisco Beautiful, a non-profit organization that works to protect San Francisco's urban environment. She holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley; a JD from the University of California, Los Angeles; and bachelor's degrees in history and biological sciences from Stanford University.

Charmaine Ess
Chief Program Development Officer

Charmaine joins Room to Read with over 15 years of experience in operations, finance and international development work. Previously, Charmaine was the co-founder and partner of the Axion Group: a boutique consulting firm specializing in emerging growth companies. Charmaine has also held positions at the Moore Foundation (where she managed a one billion dollar conservation grant to Latin America); Financial Services Volunteer Corps (where she established/managed FSVC's Moscow office and delivery of programs to the Russian Central Bank and Parliament); as well as Goldman Sachs (where she was part of a three-person Russia advisory team). Charmaine has worked in Denmark, France, U.K., Croatia, Russia, and Chile. She speaks five languages, has an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA in Political Science from Dartmouth (graduating Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and Presidential Scholar). As Chief Program Development Officer, Charmaine is in charge of spearheading Room to Read's strategy for expansion into new countries and regions.

Lisa Hogen
Chief Development Officer

Lisa comes to Room to Read with over nine years of fundraising experience having worked most recently as the Director of Development for The Food Project, a Boston-based non-profit focused on youth development through sustainable agriculture. Prior to that, Lisa worked as a Major Gifts Officer for The Nature Conservancy's Asia Pacific Program where she was responsible for raising funds to support the Conservancy's efforts to protect rainforests and coral reefs. As Chief Development Officer at Room to Read, Lisa oversees all aspects of fundraising with a primary focus on corporations and foundations. Lisa holds a B.S. in Environmental Studies and Economics from Tufts University.

Lori McLeese
Chief People Officer

Lori joins Room to Read with over fifteen years of educational, instructional design, marketing, and Human Resources experience. Most recently, she worked in corporate Human Resources at Mervyns, a west coast retailer. Prior to that she held positions at United Business Media, Oracle, and the San Francisco Unified School District. In addition, she taught in private schools in Kuwait, Egypt, and South Korea. Lori's primary responsibilities are recruitment, training, motivation and retention of great people around the globe, in addition to day-to-day HR responsibilities. Lori was awarded her Master's Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of San Francisco and her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Academic Society.

Steven W. Zimmerman
Chief Operations Officer

Steven is an acknowledged leader in the international not-for-profit operations and program management field. He has held senior and executive-level positions with a number of international development organizations, including Save the Children, AFS Intercultural, and most recently, Mercy Corps. An accountant and economist by training, he has directly managed numerous financial and administrative functions, including financial planning, budget and budget control, grants management and compliance, human resources administration, and staff development/performance management. Steven also has extensive experience in program design, proposal development, project management, and monitoring and evaluation. His past positions have required a significant level of external representation as well as negotiation with donors, host governments and partner organizations. Over the past twenty-five years, Steven has served in more than a dozen long-term overseas positions, including most recently in Mongolia and China. Steven has a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, and has studied at the Universite de Tunis in Tunisia and the Universite de Grenoble in France.