John Mackey

A vocal member of the Libertarian Party, Mackey is a strong supporter of free market economics and has strong anti-union views. He co-wrote the bestselling book Conscious Capitalism, which was released in 2013.

Despite the fact that Mackey's company Whole Foods had a market value of $11.7 billion in 2011, he was known for his frugality. In this time, he drove a five-year-old Honda Civic, and to this day is known for using low-cost hotels and always flying commercial. For an interview with Barron's magazine, he wore khaki shorts and a checked shirt. Much in line with the ethos of Whole Foods, Mackey doesn't eat frozen or processed meals, and is a practitioner of an organic and plant-based diet.

Mackey co-founded the organization Freedom Lights Our World (FLOW) to combine his commitments to "economic and political freedom as well as personal growth, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship." He supports such changes as green tax shifts, environmental trusts, world legal systems to allow the poor to create legal businesses, and a citizen's dividend to help the poor in the developed world. The name and focus of FLOW have since become Conscious Capitalism, Inc., which was initially created as a program of FLOW and evolved to the point at which it became the organization's principal focus. In 2010 the name of the organization was formally changed. The Conscious Capitalism Institute was chartered in 2009. In 2010 the original FLOW group merged with the Institute group to become one unified organization. In 2013, Mackey was interviewed on Harvard Business Review' s Ideacast podcast about his views on conscious business. Mackey said, "If you want to be competitive in the long term, your business needs to have discovered its higher purpose and it needs to adopt a stakeholder philosophy". He eschewed the conventional thinking that "business has to be sort of ruthless and heartless to be successful".

On December 24, 2009, Mackey resigned from the position of Chairman of the Board of Whole Foods Market, a position he held since 1978. On his blog, he said, "John Elstrott will now take the title of Chairman of the Board, which will accurately reflect the authority and the responsibilities that he has had for many years." Mackey remains a member of the Board of Directors.

Despite Whole Foods' welfare standards, Mackey has been criticized by abolitionist vegans such as Gary L. Francione, who believes the Whole Foods company policies betray the animal rights position. Mackey started a non-profit foundation, the Animal Compassion Foundation, to address making animal welfare more economically viable. The Animal Compassion Foundation folded in 2008 with the formation of the Global Animal Partnership, a nonprofit organization that is independent of Whole Foods Market. Mackey is on the Board of Directors of Global Animal Partnership. Additionally, he is a board member of Farm Forward, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that implements innovative strategies to promote conscientious food choices, reduce farmed animal suffering, and advance sustainable agriculture, and he has been a member of the Board of Directors for the Humane Society of the United States since 2009.

Mackey built Whole Foods into a multinational organization, with outlets in major markets across the country, as well as Canada and the United Kingdom. Along the way he bought out smaller competitors. In 2007 Whole Foods purchased a major natural foods supermarket competitor, Wild Oats Markets, Inc.

In 2006, Mackey announced he was reducing his salary to $1 a year, would donate his stock portfolio to charity, and set up a $100,000 emergency fund for staff facing personal problems. He wrote: "I am now 53 years old and I have reached a place in my life at which I no longer want to work for money, but simply for the joy of the work itself and to better answer the call to service that I feel so clearly in my own heart."

In a debate in the October 2005 issue of Reason magazine among Mackey, economist Milton Friedman, and entrepreneur T. J. Rodgers, Mackey said that he is a free-market libertarian. He said that he used to be a democratic socialist in college. As a beginning businessman, he was challenged by workers for not paying adequate wages and by customers for overcharging, during a time when he was having difficulty breaking even. He began to take a more capitalistic worldview, and discovered the works of Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Milton Friedman. Mackey is an admirer of some of Ayn Rand's novels.

John Mackey's father Bill was a professor of accounting, CEO of LifeMark, a health-care company, and investor of Whole Foods Market, before he died in 2004. In the abstract to his book Conscious Capitalism, Mackey thanks his father for teaching him valuable life lessons.

Whole Foods was the first grocery chain to set standards for humane animal treatment. Mackey was influenced by animal rights activist, Lauren Ornelas, who criticized Whole Foods' animal standards regarding ducks at a shareholder meeting in 2003. Mackey gave Ornelas his email address and they corresponded on the issue. He studied issues related to factory farming and decided to switch to a primarily vegan diet that included only eggs from his own chickens. Since 2006, he has followed an entirely plant-based diet. He advocates tougher animal standards.

Mackey married his wife, Deborah Morin, in 1991. They have no children. Both practice yoga. They spend the week in Austin and weekends at their 720-acre (291.4 ha) ranch 40 miles (64 km) west of Austin.

Mackey's mother Margaret died in 1987 when John was thirty-four years of age. John and Margaret had a strained relationship, partly due to her desire for a different future regarding her son. Margaret felt that such a “fine mind” should devote its time doing something more productive than retailing. John did not agree, but in later years he regretted that he did not make it more clear that he loved her.

Mackey co-founded his first health food store, SaferWay, with his girlfriend Renee Lawson (Hardy) in Austin in 1978. They met while living in a vegetarian housing co-op. They dropped out of college.

Mackey was a student of philosophy and religion at the University of Texas at Austin and Trinity University in the 1970s, and worked at a vegetarian co-op. Mackey spent almost six years at university without achieving a degree. Mackey credits his generalist approach to learning as the main reason he was able to be successful in business. Mackey, who was a vegetarian for 30 years, now identifies as a vegan.

John Powell Mackey (born August 15, 1953) is an American businessman and writer. He is the CEO of Whole Foods Market, which he co-founded in 1980. Named Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year in 2003, he is one of the most influential advocates in the movement for organic food.