Джон Макки: Whole Foods Market-тің негіздеушісі және «Жаңа капитализм» авторы

American businessman, writer, and former CEO of Whole Foods Market

John Powell Mackey (born August 15, 1953) is an American businessman, and writer. He is the co founder of Whole Foods Market and was the CEO of the company from its inception in 1980 until 2022. Named Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year in 2003, he is one of the most influential advocates in the movement for organic food. A vocal member of the Libertarian Party, Mackey is a strong supporter of free market economics. Mackey has criticized labor unions, and describes his views as "beyond union." He co wrote the bestselling book Conscious Capitalism, which was released in 2013.

Mackey was born on August 15, 1953, in Houston, Texas, the son of Margaret Wescott (Powell) and William Sturges "Bill" Mackey, Jr. He has a sister and a brother. 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. 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 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.

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. 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.

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." He has instituted caps on executive pay at the company.

On July 20, 2007, The Wall Street Journal revealed that Mackey was, for at least seven years, using the pseudonym "Rahodeb" (an anagram of his wife's name, Deborah) to post to Yahoo Finance forums. He referred to himself in the third person and criticized rival supermarket chain Wild Oats Markets. The Federal Trade Commission approved a complaint challenging Whole Foods Market's approximately $670 million acquisition of its chief rival, Wild Oats Markets, Inc. It authorized the FTC staff to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in federal district court to halt the deal, pending an administrative trial on the merits. After an extensive regulatory battle with the FTC, a federal appeals court consented to the deal. Whole Foods officially completed its buyout of Wild Oats on August 27, 2007. In May 2008, after an SEC investigation cleared him, Mackey started blogging again. In a 2,037 word post, he wrote about why he began blogging in the first place and how his upbringing drove him to defend himself and Whole Foods. He admitted he made a mistake in judgment, but not in ethics.

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.

On September 1, 2022, Mackey stepped down from his position as CEO of the company, one he held since its inception in 1980. He was succeeded by Jason Buechel. Buechel previously was executive vice president and chief information officer (CIO) between 2013 and 2019, followed by a tenure as chief operating officer (COO) from 2019 until his promotion in 2022.

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. 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 Reviews 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".

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.

During his twenties, Mackey experimented with different religions and philosophies, and it was rumored for a long time that he was a Buddhist. Mackey now describes himself as a Perennialist.

Mackey had a longtime relationship with Mary Kay Hagen. They have no children. Both practice yoga. They spend the week in Austin and weekends at their ranch 40 mile (64 km) west of Austin. and one of the top 30 CEOs in 2007 by Barron's magazine. In May 2008, he received an honorary bachelor's degree from Bentley College.