Graeme Thomas Wood AM (born 1947)^[1] is an Australian digital entrepreneur, philanthropist and environmentalist. He founded the websites Wotif.com^[2] and The Global Mail. Wood has also invested in The Guardian Australia.

Career

Wood founded The Global Mail, a not-for-profit multimedia site for journalism in the public interest.^[3] In July 2013, The Global Mail became the first institutional member of the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), as part of Wood's three-year, US$1.5 million grant to bolster cross-border investigative reporting.^[4] Other businesses Wood has founded include Wild Mob (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;^[5] Artology (2011), an organisation focused on youth development and social change through the arts;^[6] and Wotnews, which closed in 2012^[7] after spawning We Are Hunted, a music recommendation website sold to Twitter in 2013.^[8]

The Graeme Wood Foundation supports environmental sustainability, the arts, tertiary education and improved justice for Australia's Indigenous community. In 2010, he gave a political donation of A$1.6 million, to The Greens^[9] and is a donor of University of Queensland, the University of Tasmania, and Melbourne University.^[10] In January 2013, Wood became a prominent backer of the digital arm of British newspaper The Guardian in Australia,^[11] which he said would add quality and diversity to Australian media and foster a closer interaction with the rest of the world. In October 2016, leaked emails from the account of John Podesta included a claim by a public relations company, Fenton Communications, that Wood had pledged US$500,000 towards an advertising campaign to counter the climate change denial stance of media owned by Rupert Murdoch. Wood has since stated, "It sounded like a good idea at the time but in the end I didn’t proceed with any funding".^[12]

In 2011, Wood acquired the Triabunna Woodchip Mill in Tasmania.^[13] He submitted plans for the rejuvenation of the site, renamed Spring Bay Mill, in September 2016.

Awards and honours

Wood was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2012 Australia Day Honours.^[14] He was awarded Suncorp Queenslander of the Year^[15] and received an Honorary Doctorate of Economics from the University of Queensland.

References