Going All the Way

John Hood continues to shake the cloisters at Oxford University in his attempts, as Vice Chancellor, to secure the venerable institution’s status as an academic powerhouse for the 21st century. A former CEO with Fletcher Challenge and Vice Chancellor at Auckland University, Hood has taken a no-nonsense business-minded approach to Oxford’s notoriously decentralized power structure. While his critics damn him for “acting like a CEO of a large corporation,” his champions praise his forward thinking and global outlook. “I think he is going to take Oxford all the way,” says former president of Magdalen College, Anthony Smith. “He knows where Oxford needs to place itself in the world.”