Dr Wood has a long history of adult and financial literacy advocacy. She was previously the Education Manager at the Commission for Financial Literacy and Retirement Income.  She has worked across the school, tertiary, and industry sectors to improve adult literacy and financial literacy, and is a member of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority’s project advisory group reviewing financial literacy unit standards.

She is also the current Chairperson of the Adult Literacy Practitioners’ Association. Dr Wood has extensive experience in developing teaching and learning resources, training and development and stakeholder relationship. Her research interests include identifying trigger points that motivate people to change their financial behaviour and testing culturally appropriate evaluation tools.