New heat spreaders are proposed to connect high power, high heat generating electronic devices to their downstream heat dissipating cooling components. First, the spreaders distribute the high heat flux over a wider surface area, thus reducing the flux to levels more easily handled by the downstream cooling system. Second, the spreaders incorporate flexible columns or elements to join the electronic devices to the main body of the spreader, so as to negate the undesirable effects of CTE mismatch. Columns with a higher standoff distance between the components are more flexible than a direct flat interface attachment between the heat source and the heat sink, and will have less chance of delaminating. Several embodiments are proposed and can be used in appropriate situations. The heat spreaders can be helpful in harsh environments and in high heat generating applications, such as spacecraft, satellites, as well as land locked high power computer systems.