Graeme Wood
Founder of Wotif.com.
Profile
Graeme Wood revolutionised the travel industry in Australia when he created the concept for, and cofounded, Wotif.com in 2000. From his simple and innovative idea, Graeme has grown Wotif.com into a global company with a team of over 145 employees worldwide.
Current work
He is a frequent speaker at functions covering topics relevant to the travel industry as well as entrepreneurship and innovation.
His not-for-profit interests through the Graeme Wood Foundation and the Wot’s Next Programme support youth development programmes in the arts, sailing, and conservation.
Previous experience
IT: Graeme’s background is in information technology, with more than 30 years experience in the field of information systems and software development, beginning with NCR and later IBM. His career as an entrepreneur began in the early 1980s with the first of several technology start-ups.
Awards: Since Wotif.com’s inception Graeme and the company have been awarded several times for contributions to the industry and excellence in all areas of operation including:
– Overall Winner and Winner of Outstanding Achievement by an Organisation in the Services Sector – Premier of Queensland’s SMART Awards 2004
– Australian Institute of Management Medal for Management Innovation – 2004 Management Excellence Awards
– National winner of the Technology, Communications, E-Commerce and Life Sciences category – 2005 Ernst and Young, Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
– National winner for a contact centre with under 50 seats – CSIA Australian Service Excellence Awards 2005/2006.
– Winner of the Inspiration iAward and the Tourism & Hospitality category – AIIA iAwards 2006.
Education: Graeme is a graduate of the University of Queensland, Australia, with a Bachelor of Economics and Master of Information Systems.
Feedback
Graeme Wood is a truly inspirational speaker. He presented his wotif.com success story to an audience of business and community leaders in a way that everyone could relate to and enjoy. Graeme made the difficult process of creating his business sound almost easy and effortless, drawing many laughs from the audience in the process. Many of the audience took the time to tell us how much they enjoyed and appreciated Graeme's presentation, and felt that they had much to take away from his story.
The history of wotif.com is a fascinating success story. Graeme Wood describes the journey in a very engaging manner. You share the highs and lows with him and subtly learn how to apply the lessons to your own organisation.
The Innovation Series aspires to build a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in South East Queensland. At part of the event series we invite examples of that culture to inspire others and transfer knowledge to the broader corporate, academic and government sectors. Graeme Wood, Founder and CEO of wotif.com, was invited as our inaugural keynote speaker of the event series. Graeme's challenging entrepreneurial journey was delivered to a broad audience who were captivated by his determination and uplifted by his story. Graeme's content matched by his character stimulated paradigm shifts; provoked controversy and reinforced that innovation happens on the edges.
Graeme was not only an enthusiastic and comical speaker, but possessed a strong business acumen and expertise of his business and technology. An engaging speaker who held the crowd at every stage of the breakfast forum. An absolute pleasure to have as a guest speaker.
Very inspirational and entertaining.
