About Us

See our History to learn about the origins of FLOW.

Board of Directors

John Mackey is co-founder of FLOW and Chairman and CEO of Whole Foods Market, a $5.7 billion sales Fortune 500 company, as well as a "Fortune 100 Best Companies To Work For" every year since 1998. Whole Foods is one of the top 12 supermarket companies in America and the world's largest natural foods retail chain. John Mackey was named the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year in 2003. Mr. Mackey is a strong believer in FLOW principles, including free market principles and empowerment management. Mr. Mackey has lived on a vegetarian co-o; he and his wife, Deborah, both practice meditation and yoga, and spend as much time as they can on their 720 acre ranch west of Austin. John is a voracious book reader and participates in two monthly book clubs. He is always up for a lively debate about politics, economics, history or sports.

Michael Strong is a pioneer in education and independent learning. He is the author of The Habit of Thought:  From Socratic Seminars to Socratic Practice, and the founder of innovative Socratic, Montessori, and Paideia schools and programs in Alaska, Florida, California, Texas, and New Mexico. Moreno Valley High School, the charter school for which Michael was the founding principal, was ranked the 36th best public high school in the U.S. on the Washington Post's 2006 Challenge Index.  Michael is co-founder and board member, and serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Visionary Officer of FLOW.

Jim Von Ehr is the founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Zyvex Corporation, the first nanotechnology development company. He is also co-founder of the Feynman Grand Prize and the Texas Nanotechnology Initiative. Before founding Zyvex in 1997, Jim was the founder, president, chairman and CEO of Altsys Corporation, which he built from a small programming project in his dining room to a major player in the desktop publishing industry with total worldwide sales of over $100M. In addition to FLOW, Jim serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas Nanotechnology Initiative, Metroplex Technology Business Council, the North Texas Technology Council, and the New York-based NanoBusiness Alliance. He also manages the Von Ehr Foundation, a private charitable foundation he established in 1999.

Susan Niederhoffer is a working mother trying to create a better world for her children. She is currently a partner at Manchester Trading, a trading advisor to several hedge funds. With her husband, Vic, she has helped start and run several Niederhoffer trading entities with over $100 Million in assets that in various years were the best performing funds and, once, the worst. Her primary focus has been nurturing the emotional well-being and intellectual passions of her six daughters and stepdaughters. To this end, she has been actively involved on the boards of several Montessori schools and other independent day and boarding schools as well as an active philanthropist for many other educational organizations. Susan holds an honors degree in economics from Harvard where she wrote a thesis on entrepreneurship, and is an avid runner, photographer and optimist.

Vidar Jorgensen is the majority owner of six industry based conference and research companies, which in turn own and manage over 200 conferences and several membership-based research groups focused on biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, health care, insurance, financial services, entertainment, and infrastructure development. Mr. Jorgensen's companies include CBI Research, Inc., WRG Research, Inc., Cambridge Healthtech Institute, Cambridge Healthtech Advisory and The World Health Care Congress, which was launched in conjunction with The Wall Street Journal and CNBC. This partnership will be expanding on this new franchise in both Europe and the United States. He resides in Concord, Massachusetts with his wife Kathy and three children Lorens, Nicholas and Kristen.

The FLOW Executive Team

Michael Strong - Chief Executive Officer & Chief Visionary Officer. As Chief Executive Officer, Michael Strong has executive oversight of FLOW, Inc. and the FLOW movement. His top priority as CEO is fostering new and existing relationships with individuals who are passionate about leading and supporting the FLOW vision. As Chief Visionary Officer, Michael applies his extensive leadership experience inspiring diverse people toward a common goal. His work in education has been enormously successful in demonstrating the profound potential for an enormous increase in human flourishing that could be released through widespread innovation and the free flow of ideas.

Jeff Klein - Executive Director & Chief Activation Officer. Jeff began serving as Executive Director for FLOW in late October 2005. Jeff’s principal focus within FLOW now is as Executive Director and member of the governing circle of the Conscious Business Alliance and as an advisor the AWE Alliance.

Jeff is founder and CEO of Cause Alliance Marketing, through which he develops collaborative cause related marketing programs. Jeff was one of the visionaries and driving forces behind Private Music, the career of Yanni, Spinning, and Seeds of Change, and has consulted for the Esalen Institute, the National Geographic Society, GlobalGiving, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, among others.

Jeff wrote his new book, Working for Good: Making a Difference While Making a Living, to support conscious entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, leaders, and change agents at work. He resides in San Rafael, Calif.

Philomena Blees, J.D. (“Phyllis”) FLOW’s Vice President, Secretary, General Counsel, and Chief Problem Solver. She also serves as Director of FLOW Activation Circles and Executive Director of the Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) Alliance. Prior to joining FLOW she co-founded a for-profit International Baccalaureate school for gifted children in Austin, Texas, which she sold in December, 2005. She is in the ideation stage of opening a Center for Adult Creativity and Innovation.

Phyllis founded and served as the first president of 3 nonprofit corporations supporting education and creativity: the Eanes I.S.D. Talented and Gifted Association, the Eanes Education Foundation, and the American Creativity Association's Austin Chapter. Phyllis Chaired the 2005 International Conference of the ACA which brings leaders from around the world to share their knowledge about creative problem solving in business, education, science, industry and technology. 

Phyllis received her law degree at the University Of Hawaii, finishing 1st in her class, earning Am Jur awards (highest grade) in Contracts, Civil Procedure, and Real Property, and serving as an editor of the Law Review.  Phyllis received undergraduate awards in business and service from the California Business Education Association, graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Business, minoring in Economics, and earning the President’s List award for a 4-year, all-A average.

Phyllis pursues running, hiking, and reading with her two children, ages 16 and 23, as a single mother in Austin, Texas.