Graeme Thomas Wood (born 1947) is an Australian digital

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

and

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

. He is the founder of online travel site

Wotif.com Wotif is a website that provides a reservation service for hotels in Australia and international destinations across the globe. It was set up in March 2000 by Graeme Wood in Brisbane, Australia. It has since established offices in Canada, Malay ...

and has made investments in media, including backing

The Guardian Australia ''Guardian Australia'' is the Australian website of the British global online and print newspaper, ''The Guardian''. Available solely in an online format, the newspaper's launch was led by Katharine Viner in time for the 2013 Australian fede ...

and founding ''

The Global Mail ''The Global Mail'' was a not-for-profit multimedia site for longform and project-based journalism in the public interest operating from 2012 to 2014. Based in Sydney, Australia, the site launched in February 2012 with philanthropic funding f ...

''.

Career

In January 2013, Wood was named as a prominent backer of the digital arm of British newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' in Australia. He said it would add quality and diversity to Australian media as well as fostering a closer interaction with the rest of the world. Wood founded ''

'', a not-for-profit multimedia site for journalism in the public interest. In July 2013 ''The Global Mail'' became the first institutional member of the Washington-based

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C. with pe ...

(ICIJ), as part of Wood's three-year, US$1.5 million grant to bolster cross-border investigative reporting. Other businesses Wood has founded include Wotnews, which closed in 2012 after spawning We Are Hunted, a music recommendation website sold to

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

in 2013. In 2011, Wood acquired the Triabunna Woodchip Mill in Tasmania. He submitted plans for the rejuvenation of the site, renamed Spring Bay Mill, in September 2016.

Activism

The Graeme Wood Foundation supports environmental sustainability, the Arts, Tertiary Education and improved Justice for Australia's indigenous community. Wood founded Artology in 2011, an organisation focused on youth development and social change through the arts. Wood also founded Wild Mob in 2008, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to protect Australia's most threatened species and ecosystems by giving young people the opportunity to participate in conservation work and environmental education while experiencing some of Australia's most iconic wilderness destinations. Wood was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2012 Australia Day Honours. He has been awarded

Suncorp Suncorp Group Limited is an Australian finance, insurance, and banking corporation based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is one of Australia's mid-size banks (by combined lending and deposits) and its largest general insurance group, fo ...

Queenslander of the Year, and received an Honorary Doctorate of Economics from the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

. He has been a significant donor to the University of Queensland, the University of Tasmania and Melbourne University.

Political involvement

Wood gave a political donation of A$1.6 million, to

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties * Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina * Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *G ...

in 2010. In October 2016 leaked emails from the account of

John Podesta John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American Political consulting, political consultant who has served as Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, Senior Advisor to President Joe Biden for clean energy innovation an ...

included a claim by a public relations company, Fenton Communications, that Wood had pledged towards an advertising campaign to counter the

climate change denial Climate change denial, or global warming denial, is denial, dismissal, or doubt that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is caused by humans, its effects on nature and human society, or th ...

stance of media owned by

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

. Wood has since stated "It sounded like a good idea at the time but in the end I didn’t proceed with any funding".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Graeme 1947 births Living people Australian businesspeople Businesspeople in online retailing People educated at Brisbane State High School People from Rockhampton Members of the Order of Australia