The Job Creators Network (JCN) is a conservative U.S. advocacy group founded by

Bernie Marcus Bernard Marcus (May 12, 1929 – November 4, 2024) was an American billionaire businessman. He co-founded Home Depot in 1978. He was the company's first CEO and first chairman until retiring in 2002. In November 2024, ''Forbes'' estimated his ne ...

, the co-founder and former CEO of

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., often referred to as Home Depot, is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportat ...

. The organization has received funding from the Marcus Foundation, the

Mercer Family Foundation The Mercer Family Foundation is a private grant-making foundation in the United States. As of 2013, it had $37 million in assets. The foundation is run by Rebekah Mercer, the daughter of computer scientist and hedge fund manager Robert Mercer. ...

, and

Phil Anschutz Philip Frederick Anschutz ( ; born December 28, 1939) is an American billionaire businessman who owns or controls companies in a variety of industries, including energy, railroads, real estate, sports, newspapers, travel, movies, theaters, arena ...

Activities

The Job Creators Network was originally founded in 2010 under the name The Job Creators Alliance. JCN launched a "Bring Small Businesses Back" (BSBB) campaign in 2016. In April 2016, JCN hosted a BSBB event in Orlando featuring

Frank Luntz Frank Ian Luntz (born February 23, 1962) is an American political and communications consultant and pollster, best known for developing talking points and other messaging for Republican causes. His work has included assistance with messaging ...

, Mike Gallagher, and a panel of small business owners. Throughout 2017, JCN advocated for tax cuts through a campaign dubbed “Tax Cuts Now”, and offered the group's support to the

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act The Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018, , is a congressional revenue act of the United States originally introduced in Congress as the Tax Cuts and Jobs ...

, which offered temporary tax cuts to individuals and permanent tax cuts to corporations. The Tax Cuts Now campaign included a bus tour that made stops across the country. Former Speaker of the House

Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1 ...

penned an op-ed supporting the campaign in ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' with Brad Anderson, former CEO of

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

and a member of JCN. JCN launched another bus tour in 2018, with the goal of promoting the

. Then-Speaker of the House

Paul Ryan Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American politician who served as the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member of the ...

joined JCN at stops on the tour, including one hosted at a small business in Clinton, Wisconsin. The organization delivered thousands of petitions to Ryan in support of the legislation. In February 2019, the group put up a billboard in New York City's

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

blaming U.S. Representative

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the United States House of Representatives, US representative for New York's 14th congressional distric ...

for

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

's decision to abandon the building of the company's second headquarters in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. After the congresswoman tweeted that the billboard was "wack", JCN put up two more billboards, one saying "Hey AOC, saw your wack tweet", the other, "Hey AOC, this billboard cost about $4,000. But you cost NY 25,000 jobs and $4,000,000,000 in annual lost wages." In May 2021, JCN filed a lawsuit against

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

and the

Major League Baseball Players Association The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) is the labor union representing all current Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players. All players, managers, coaches, and athletic trainers who hold or have held ...

after the league decided to move the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...

from Atlanta to Denver in protest over Georgia’s voting laws. JCN highlighted this lawsuit in a series of

billboards, including one criticizing MLB Commissioner

Rob Manfred Robert Dean Manfred Jr. (born September 28, 1958) is an American lawyer and business executive who is serving as the tenth commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously served as MLB's chief operating officer. Manfred succeeded Bud S ...

, saying he has “no balls, all strikes.” A judge ruled against JCN and the lawsuit was dropped. JCN regularly distributes a “Defender of Small Business” award to members of Congress, with past recipients including Missouri Rep.

Blaine Luetkemeyer William Blaine Luetkemeyer ( ; born May 7, 1952) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2013 to 2025. On January 4, 2024, he declined to run for reelection to Congress. He previously represented from 2009 to 2 ...

and Minnesota Rep.

Jim Hagedorn James Lee Hagedorn ( ; August 4, 1962 – February 17, 2022) was an American politician from Minnesota. A Republican, he was the U.S. representative for from 2019 until his death. The district stretches across southern Minnesota along the borde ...

. The organization also runs the "Information Station" website, which offers explainer-type videos and articles from a pro-business perspective.

Advocacy during COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, JCN oversaw campaigns on both healthcare policy and business policy. JCN hosted a petition on its "Healthcare for You" website for doctors to show their support for the drug

hydroxychloroquine Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil among others, is a medication used to prevent and treat malaria in areas where malaria remains sensitive to chloroquine. Other uses include treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, an ...

, which had not been approved by the FDA for coronavirus treatment. The organization pledged to deliver the petitions to the White House and to “protect physician autonomy and medical decision-making as we stand in harm’s way to care for the American public.” President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

and other White House staff had financial ties to drugmakers that are ramping up production of the drug. At the start of the pandemic, JCN president Alfredo Ortiz was in direct contact with

Steven Mnuchin Steven Terner Mnuchin ( ; born December 21, 1962) is an American investment banker and film producer who served as the 77th United States secretary of the treasury as part of the first cabinet of Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021. Serving for nearl ...

, speaking with him three times in one day during stimulus package discussions. Ortiz recommended having private banks distribute PPP loans, rather than the Small Business Administration, a change Mnuchin implemented in the final policy. JCN joined the Save Our Country coalition to advocate for governments to allow small businesses to reopen during the pandemic. In 2021, the organization announced its intentions to sue the Biden administration over its vaccine mandate for private businesses with more than 100 employees.

Advocacy against student loan forgiveness

In October 2022, the Job Creators Network Foundation Legal Action Fund filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Education Department and its then-secretary,

Miguel Cardona Miguel Angel Cardona (born July 11, 1975) is an American educator who served as the 12th United States secretary of education under President Joe Biden from March 2, 2021 to January 20, 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he was confirmed b ...

, seeking to block the Biden administration’s student loan debt forgiveness program. U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman, who was appointed by Trump, struck down President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

’s student loan forgiveness program in November 2022.

Membership

JCN was founded by

, the co-founder and former CEO of

. Since January 2014, the organization's president and CEO has been Alfredo Ortiz, a former

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

and

Kraft Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

executive, while the president and director of communications for the JCN foundation is Elaine Parker. Its members include: * Brad Anderson, former CEO and vice chairman of

Heidi Ganahl Heidi Ganahl (born September 9, 1966) is an American businesswoman, entrepreneur, author, and formerly an elected member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents. She is the founder and former CEO of Camp Bow Wow, an international pet care ...

, founder and CEO of Camp Bow Wow *Carlos Gazitua, CEO of Sergio's Restaurants *Doug Haugh, president of Mansfield Oil * Andy Puzder, CEO of

CKE Restaurants CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. (an acronym for Carl Karcher Enterprises) is an American fast food corporation and is the parent organization for the Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Green Burrito, and Red Burrito brands. CKE Restaurants is headquartered in ...

* Joseph Semprevivo, owner of Joseph's Lite Cookies

References

External links

*
Information Station
{{Authority control Political advocacy groups in the United States Business organizations based in the United States Conservative organizations in the United States