About me
John Mackey is the co-founder and former CEO of Whole Foods Market and a leading advocate of stakeholder-driven enterprise. Over nearly four decades, he built Whole Foods into a global brand rooted in quality, purpose, and entrepreneurial innovation before its acquisition by Amazon in 2017.
Mackey is the co-author of Conscious Capitalism and The Conscious Leadership Field Guide, advancing a philosophy that businesses thrive when they serve customers, employees, communities, and investors together. He argues that free-market capitalism is not only the most effective system for wealth creation, but also a force for human flourishing when guided by higher purpose.
At FreedomFest, Mackey explores how principled entrepreneurship can align profit with purpose — and why capitalism, done consciously, remains one of humanity’s greatest tools for progress.
