Hall of Fame Announces John Mackey as Keynote Speaker

April 21, 2020  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

“Mr. Mackey grew Whole Foods from one store into a household name, has a remarkable mind for business, talent for leadership and heart for the world,” says Martin Ploy, president of the Foundation board of directors, and president of AICO/Amini Innovation Corp. “We are very fortunate to engage Mr. Mackey, who as a working CEO, grants very few speaking engagements. He will be another ‘only at the Hall of Fame’ speaker’ who will inspire us as we induct new members.”

Mackey built the natural and organic grocer from a single store in Austin, Texas, in 1978 into a Fortune 500 company, which went public in 1992, and was purchased by Amazon in 2017. Today Whole Foods Market is a top U. S. supermarket with more than 510 stores and 100,000 team members across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

While devoting his career to helping shoppers satisfy their lifestyle needs with quality natural and organic foods, Mackey also has focused on building a more conscious way of doing business. He was the visionary for the Whole Planet Foundation to help end poverty in developing nations, the Local Producer Loan Program, which provided $25 million in low interest loans to help local food producers expand their businesses, and the Global Animal Partnership’s rating scale for humane farm animal treatment.

He has been recognized as one of Fortune’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Overall Winner for the United States, Institutional Investor’s Best CEO in America, Barron’s World’s Best CEO, MarketWatch’s CEO of the Year, Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year and Esquire’s Most Inspiring CEO.

A strong believer in free market principles, Mackey co-founded the Conscious Capitalism Movement and co-authored the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling book Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business to encourage a way of doing business that is grounded in ethical consciousness. Mackey cut his pay to $1 in 2006 and continues to work for Whole Foods Market.

Most recently, Mackey has focused on returning to the company’s roots around healthy eating and lifestyle choices. A passionate advocate of healthy eating education, he laid the foundation for health and wellness programs for team members and customers. Mackey is co-author of The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving Plan for Health and Longevity and The Whole Foods Cookbook: 120 Delicious and Healthy Plant-Centered Recipes. He is an avid backpacker and long-distance hiker, and he lives in Austin with his wife, Deborah.

The American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame Induction Celebration Oct. 18 will again be hosted by TV personalities and entrepreneurs Drew and Jonathan Scott, and produced by Event Chair Michael Amini at the Sheraton Greensboro Four Seasons. Tickets for this year’s event are $250 per ticket for members ($2,500 for a table of 10) and $300 per ticket for non-members ($3,000 for a table of 10). For more information about the celebration or to purchase tickets, visit the event’s website at www.exploredreamcreate2020.com.