The Business of America

Newsweek columnist Peter Roff joins Gerry Rogers to expose the real reason behind America’s skyrocketing health care costs: the bloated, tax-exempt hospital monopolies gaming the nonprofit system. Roff argues that these billion-dollar hospital chains are exploiting their nonprofit status, lobbying government for favors, and passing the cost to everyday Americans — all while failing to deliver real charity care. This episode tackles the hidden economics of health care, tax reform, and the urgent need for transparency and accountability.

In this revealing episode of The Business of America, host Jerry Rogers speaks with Peter Pitts—former FDA official and president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest—about the hidden financial practices of nonprofit hospitals. They explore how tax breaks are misused, why hospitals escape scrutiny, and what real reform could look like at the state level. If you care about transparency, public health, or responsible spending, this conversation is essential listening.

On this episode of The Business of America podcast, host Jerry Rogers sits down with Kelly Ryan of Jesuit Refugee Services USA and Elizabeth Hoffman of the ONE Campaign to tackle the real-world impact of U.S. foreign aid. They expose the political missteps behind recent aid cuts, highlight bipartisan support for humanitarian programs, and explain why smart foreign investment isn’t charity—it’s national security, economic growth, and moral leadership. From faith-based arguments to hard-nosed geopolitics, this episode makes the American case for global engagement.

Dr. George Tidmarsh — physician, scientist, and biotech CEO — joins The Business of America podcast to reveal a shocking truth: talc, a substance linked to ovarian cancer, is still being used in common pharmaceuticals and food products. In this urgent conversation, Tidmarsh explains how the FDA's outdated "generally regarded as safe" (GRAS) list has gone unchecked since the 1970s. He makes the case for a complete overhaul of food and drug safety regulation — and calls for a return to honest, evolving science. From baby powder lawsuits to chronic disease epidemics, this episode lays bare the high cost of regulatory neglect — and what must be done now.

In this episode of the Business of America podcast, host Jerry Rogers sits down with Janet McUlsky, founder and CEO of McUlsky Health Force, to discuss her journey from Pfizer executive to health policy entrepreneur. Janet shares the origin story of her firm, launched at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and explains how she’s helping patient and consumer groups find their voice in the nation’s capital.They cover critical topics like vaccine innovation, the complexity of Medicare, health insurance barriers, and how bipartisan dialogue can advance access to care. With decades of experience and a commitment to patient advocacy, Janet reveals how McUlsky Health Force is bridging the gap between industry, nonprofits, and policymakers to deliver better health outcomes for all.📢 Learn how policy, prevention, and real conversations can shape the future of healthcare.

In this episode of Business of America, host Jerry Rogers dives into the murky world of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) with two industry experts: Martha Nolan, Senior Policy Advisor at HealthyWomen, and Mike Stancil, VP of Strategic Alliances at AffirmedRx.The conversation covers the real cost of prescription drugs, the hidden mechanics of the PBM industry, and how women disproportionately bear the burden of a confusing and costly healthcare system. Martha offers a patient-focused perspective shaped by years of advocacy, while Mike pulls back the curtain on rebate schemes, spread pricing, and how PBMs manipulate formularies for profit.They also explore promising legislation, bipartisan reform efforts, and how transparent PBMs like AffirmedRx are changing the model to prioritize patients over profits.🧠 Key Topics:What PBMs are and why they matterHow rebate structures inflate drug pricesStep therapy, prior authorizations, and their impact on womenThe role of HealthyWomen in healthcare education and policyWhat real PBM reform could look like

In this episode of The Business of America podcast, host Jerry Rogers sits down with Peter Pitts — former FDA Associate Commissioner and president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest — for a hard-hitting conversation on America’s drug pricing crisis and President Trump’s recent executive order introducing Most Favored Nation (MFN) pricing.Pitts outlines why the executive order might backfire, what’s really driving high drug costs (hint: pharmacy benefit managers and insurance middlemen), and why reference pricing from Europe won’t fix America's access or innovation problems. They explore why reforms like 340B and market-based trade negotiations are more effective paths forward.This episode cuts through the political noise with real policy insights on how to lower drug prices without sacrificing access or innovation.

In this episode of The Business of America podcast, host Jerry Rogers sits down with John Stanford, Managing Partner of the Prism Group, for a deep dive into the critical link between small business success and public health. From personal health stories to national policy, this conversation unpacks why preventive care—including vaccines and telemedicine—is essential for small business resilience.John shares how his firm supports entrepreneurs across the U.S. and globally, and why small business leaders are some of the strongest advocates for innovative, affordable healthcare. If you're a policymaker, entrepreneur, or just passionate about America’s economic engine, this episode offers insight you won’t want to miss.🔗 Learn more about Prism Group: www.prismgroup.global🎧 Subscribe for more episodes: Spotify: www.open.spotify.com/show/6vSZ3mgA1JF0xobSsVx0liApple: www.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-business-of-america/id1711441228📲 Follow The Business of America on social media for more updates.Instagram: www.instagram.com/thebusinessofamerica/

Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D., Dr.h.c., is an epidemiologist, a biostatistician, and a founding fellow at Hillsdale College’s Academy for Science and Freedom. He has been a Professor of Medicine at Harvard University for thirteen years. Dr. Kulldorff’s research centers on developing and applying new disease surveillance methods for post-market drug and vaccine safety surveillance and for the early detection and monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks. In October 2020, he co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, advocating for a pandemic strategy of focused protection instead of lockdowns.

Kevin Spivak is a highly regarded executive, entrepreneur, financier, author and attorney known for innovative leadership, sophisticated deal-making, understanding of financial markets and institutions, marketing expertise and “hands on” management. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of SMI Group LLC and chairman of its operating units.Mr. Spivak has led multi-national companies with billions of dollars of worldwide sales and operations in more than 30 countries, including serving as CEO of a NewsCorporation affiliate, a wireless technology company and an investment banking firm, principal operating officer of major studio MGM/UA, founding chairman of the Paul Mitchell cosmetology schools and an officer and director of Merrill Lynch media and entertainment partnerships.Mr. Spivak led, structured, negotiated and closed more than $10 billion of complex transactions, (more than $20 billion in current dollars), including acquisitions, dispositions, combinations, divestitures, financings, restructurings, licensing and other ventures. He led the development, financing, production, marketing and distribution of hundreds of feature films and television series grossing more than $3 billion ($7 billion in current dollars) and the branding, marketing and sales of consumer products and services grossing many additional billions of dollars. He has selected and distributed Academy Award®-winning films and long-running television series and launched successful consumer brands and pioneering technologies.

John DiDonato has been Founder and CEO of K12 Print INC. for over 30 years. With a natural ability to see the big picture, he has successfully created a printing “engine” that is not only hard to compete with but has a bigger purpose in mind. K12 Print, the fastest, most reliable custom print shop in the nation that not only enhances your brand but also transforms young lives. K12 Print is committed to breaking the cycle of poverty by investing in underserved youth. K12 Print is more than just a printer; it’s a printer with a purpose.

Iazsmin Ventura, MD, MSc, is a board-certified rheumatologist with a primary focus on inflammatory myopathies, autoimmune lung and skin diseases and vasculitidies, as well as providing comprehensive general rheumatology care.As part of UChicago Medicine’s multidisciplinary interstitial lung disease team, Dr. Bauer Ventura works with other specialty experts to diagnose, treat and manage interstitial lung diseases.Dr. Bauer Ventura is an expert in inflammatory myopathies (also called myositis), including dermatomyositis, antisynthetase syndrome, immune-mediated necrotizing myopathies, inclusion body myositis, overlap myositis syndromes and polymyositis. She is the director of the Myositis Program at UChicago Medicine and a collaborator in numerous projects with well-recognized international leaders in the field.In addition to her devotion to her clinical practice, Dr. Bauer Ventura serves in several international research groups that aim to advance knowledge in the fields of interstitial lung diseases and myositis. She is also a dedicated clinical educator, teaching and advising medical students, residents and fellows, providing guidance as they move through their medical career.

J.P. Errico is a highly accomplished individual with a diverse range of expertise as an executive, entrepreneur, and inventor. He currently serves as a board member and founder of ElectroCore, a prominent company specializing in neuromodulation that has developed a pioneering noninvasive vagus nerve stimulator.J.P. has been credited as an inventor on over 250 issued US patents, and has founded and successfully sold or taken public numerous medical device and pharmaceutical companies in partnership with Dr. Thomas J. Errico, including Fastenetix, K2 Medical Systems, AD4-Pharma, E2, and SpineCore. He earned an undergraduate degree in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked at the Air Force National Laboratory’s Lincoln Laboratories. Additionally, he holds graduate degrees in both law and mechanical/materials engineering from Duke University.

Robert Goldberg is co-founder and vice president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. (CMPI) Along with Peter Pitts, Dr. Goldberg hosts the popular and controversial blog on the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare, www.drugwonks.com.Prior to founding CMPI, Goldberg was Director of the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Medical Progress and Chairman of its 21st Century FDA Task Force that examined the impact of the FDA’s Critical Path Initiative on drug development and personalized medicine.He has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, National Review Online, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Sun and writes regularly for The American Spectator (where he broke the story about Obama Medicare director Donald Berwick’s admiration for Britain’s National Health Service); the New York Post and The Weekly Standard. He is an expert on Medicare reform, comparative effectiveness and FDA’s Critical Path Initiative and the author of many papers including, "Insta-Americans: The Empowered (and Imperiled) Health Care Consumer in the Age of Internet Medicine," and with John Vernon, "Alzheimer's Disease and Cost-effectiveness Analyses: Ensuring Good Value for Money?" and “Economic Evaluation and Comparative-Effectiveness Thresholds: Signals to Firms and Implications for R&D Investment and Innovation.” He is also author of the forthcoming book, “Tabloid Medicine: How the Internet is Being Used To Hijack Medical Science For Fear and Profit.”

Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D., Dr.h.c., is an epidemiologist, a biostatistician, and a founding fellow at Hillsdale College’s Academy for Science and Freedom. He has been a Professor of Medicine at Harvard University for thirteen years. Dr. Kulldorff’s research centers on developing and applying new disease surveillance methods for post-market drug and vaccine safety surveillance and for the early detection and monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks. In October 2020, he co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, advocating for a pandemic strategy of focused protection instead of lockdowns.Dr. Kulldorff has developed new sequential statistical methods for near real-time post-market drug and vaccine safety surveillance, where the purpose is to use weekly or other frequent data feeds to find potential safety problems as soon as possible. He has also developed tree-based scan statistic data mining methods for post-market drug and vaccine safety surveillance. Keeping the outcome definitions flexible, the methods simultaneously evaluates thousands of potential adverse events and groups of related events, adjusting for the multiple testing inherent in such an approach. These methods are used by FDA and CDC to monitor drug and vaccine safety.

Kirsten Axelsen is a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she focuses primarily on domestic and international pharmaceutical policy. In addition to her AEI work, Ms. Axelsen is a consultant to biopharmaceutical and other life science companies.Before joining AEI, Ms. Axelsen worked for over 20 years in the biopharmaceutical industry, both in-house and as a consultant. As vice president for strategy and new business assessment in Pfizer’s Innovative Health and Essential Health units, she oversaw business-development evaluations in the fields of rare disease, oncology, inflammation, immunology, and primary care. She was also responsible for developing a health strategy for emerging markets and renewing a 10-year strategic plan for China. She led the Pfizer Global Policy team, whose work included the policy strategy and impact analysis for the Affordable Care Act and Medicare Part D. Internationally, she evaluated health technology assessment programs in the EU and the quality consistency of pharmaceutical drugs in China. More recently, she has focused on Medicare Part D benefit design and preventive care, including obesity treatment and clinical trial representation.In 2020, Ms. Axelsen cofounded the nonprofit organization the Preparedness and Treatment Equity Coalition, whose goal is to improve health outcomes for blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asians by funding and promoting the evaluation of approaches to health care delivery.

Joe Kiani has been “solving the unsolvable” for over 30 years as an engineer and entrepreneur. He has a passion for improving patient safety through the development of unrivaled consumer and medical technology. He is the co-inventor of Masimo SET technology, which has been called “modern pulse oximetry.” SET revolutionized how clinicians measure this “fifth vital sign” and how they care for patients in the hospital and at home.Joe founded the Patient Safety Movement Foundation in 2012. The nonprofit organization works to eliminate harm and deaths from preventable medical errors worldwide. It is estimated that medical errors will claim the lives of more than three million patients each year. Joe and the Patient Safety Movement Foundation team seek to achieve zero preventable deaths from medical harm across the globe by 2030. Alongside the industry’s leading patient safety experts, Kiani created 18 Actionable Patient Safety Solutions, an online resource for hospitals and clinicians, which has been widely adopted.Joe Kiani X:https://x.com/JoeKiani?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5EauthorMasimo Website:https://professional.masimo.com/

James Davis is the founder & president of Touchdown Strategies, a strategic communications company that helps organizations improve lives by making an impact on issues that matter.Before founding Touchdown Strategies, James spent seven years as a senior executive with the Stand Together community. He led teams to advance major advocacy campaigns that achieved once-in-a-generation policy wins, including veterans’ health care, and criminal justice and federal tax reforms. Davis continues to serve on the board of directors for Americans for Prosperity, the largest grassroots organization in the country.Over the last decades, James has helped shape some of the world’s most notable events. He served as a key advisor to BP during the 2010 “Deepwater Horizon” response and recovery, spearheaded communications for the Pentagon under Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates and co-authored the strategic communications plan for the “Surge of Forces” in Iraq.James also worked on dozens of winning political campaigns, served as communications director for the 2012 Republican National Convention, and guided a nationwide campaign to help neighbors reduce poverty and addiction.

Brian Darling is the president and founder of the firm Liberty Government Affairs. He was Senior Communications Director and Counsel for Senator Rand Paul and a former senior fellow in government studies at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank based in Washington, D.C. Darling has been involved in U.S. politics since the early 1990s, in roles as a congressional aide, lobbyist and legal counsel.

Tim Stewart has spent nearly 30 years in the legislative and regulatory environment in Washington D.C. Since 2004 Mr. Stewart has founded and managed three government relations and consulting firms. In 2004 he established the American Capitol Group, a full-service government relations firm. In 2009, he helped found Energy North America, an energy-consulting firm, and in 2011, he reunited with his former employer Senator Robert F. Bennett (R-UT) to establish the Bennett Consulting Group. Tim also serves as the President of the US Oil and Gas Association, one of the nation’s oldest trade associations representing the oil and gas industry. Mr. Stewart specializes in Congressional appropriations, energy and environment, agriculture, water and natural resources policy. He has represented a broad array of clients, including defense, energy interests, universities, tribes, trade associations, municipalities, state and country governments, and small businesses working to both promote and protect their interests.

Ray Ficca has been working as an actor, director, and producer for over 35 years. When not on stage, in front of the camera, or putting it all together, Ray finds inspiration and sparks of creativity from teaching acting at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts - Washington DC's only accredited actor training studio.

Leslie Danford, founder and CEO of Vitaminis, a clean-label functional food and beverage brand. She has always been passionate about nutrition, but she is not a foodie. For her, it’s like a math equation, and it’s important to cover all of your nutritional bases. In 2020 she combined her personal interests with her formal business training to launch Vitaminis. Previously she worked in beverages and consumer products at large corporations. She earned her MBA from Harvard University and her BA from the University of Chicago.Check out Vitaminis: https://vitaminisbrand.com/

Helder Toste is the Government Affairs Liaison for The LIBRE Initiative, a national non-partisan Hispanic advocacy group.Previously, Helder was the Field Director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee where he organized Hispanic voter contact efforts for 8 U.S. Senate campaigns and helped Republicans secure a record share of the vote in a midterm election.He has also served as the National Hispanic Director for the Republican National Committee and worked for Rep. Nunes from California.Learn More:https://www.realclearhealth.com/2024/05/20/rural_and_hispanic_communities_need_telehealth_1032609.html

Emily Holubowich joined the American Heart Association in 2019 with more than twenty years of experience in health and fiscal policy, government relations, strategic communications, and coalition management. She is frequently sought out by the media for her expertise on public health and fiscal policy, serves as a lecturer in health policy and management at The George Washington University, and is called upon by national organizations to lecture on the policy environment and best practices in strategic communications and advocacy.Kathryn Schubert has served as President & CEO of the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) since April 2020. She is a trusted leaders and consensus builder among women’s health stakeholders, and previously served as chief advocacy officer at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM). Katie began her career on Capitol Hill and subsequently advised organizations on policy strategy in the healthcare space. She is a board member of the National Health Council, Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, and ASPN Foundation. She is a previous president of Women in Government Relations, and in 2020 was named Advocate of the Year by Professional Women in Advocacy for her work on inclusion of pregnant and lactating populations in research, and in 2024 named as one of the most influential people shaping policy in healthcare by the Washingtonian magazine. 

Juliana Reed is executive director at the Biosimilars Forum. Reed has served as the Biosimilars Forum president for more than eight years and was one of its original co-founders. She brings more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare sector to the Forum and has served in executive roles leading global corporate and government affairs for Pfizer, Hospira and Coherus BioSciences.Jon Martin serves as a board member of the Biosimilars Forum where he acts as a liaison to the biosimilar industry on policy matters that may facilitate cost savings to the healthcare system.The Biosimilars Forum was incorporated in Washington, DC, as a nonprofit organization to advance biosimilars in the United States with the intent of expanding access and availability of biological medicines, and improving health care. The Biosimilars Forum will provide evidence-based information to inform and support public policies that encourage awareness, access, and adoption of biosimilars.Find more at https://biosimilarsforum.org/

Timothy Carney is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he works on civil society, family, localism, religion in America, economic competition, and electoral politics. He is concurrently a senior columnist at the Washington Examiner.Mr. Carney’s most recent book is titled Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be. He is also the author of Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse (2019), which was a Washington Post bestseller; Obamanomics (2009); and The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money (2006), which was awarded the 2008 Culture of Enterprise award by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

Rupert Darwall is a strategy consultant and policy analyst. He taught economics and history at Cambridge University and subsequently worked in finance as an investment analyst and in corporate finance before becoming a special adviser to the United Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer. He has written extensively for publications on both sides of the Atlantic, including the Spectator, Wall Street Journal, National Review, and Daily Telegraph. He is the author of the books, The Age of Global Warming: A History (2013) and Green Tyranny: Exposing the Totalitarian Roots of the Climate Industrial Complex (2017).

Joel Kotkin is the Roger Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange, California and directs the Center for Demographics and Policy there. He is Executive Editor of the widely read website NewGeography.com. He has a regular column in Spiked in the UK, the National Post in Canada and the American Mind. He also writes regularly for UnHerd, Quillette, the Los Angeles Times, National Review, City Journal, The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator as well as many other national publications.Kotkin is the author of ten previously published books, including the widely praised The New Class Conflict (Telos Press), which describes the changing dynamics of class in America. He authored The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us in 2016 and co-edited, with MIT’s Alan Berger, the 2018 collection Infinite Suburbia. He also co-edited, with Ryan Streeter, a book on the future of cities.

Kirsten Axelsen is a Health Innovator Fellow with The Aspen Institute, and a Visiting Scholar with The American Enterprise Institute. Kristen focuses on biopharma reimbursement and health policy and has worked with biopharmaceutical and related companies for over 20 years on business strategy and public affairs in the US, EU, China and Emerging Markets. She is an advisor to the Life Sciences sector in the New York office.

Bob Beauprez is a rancher and former banker and politician from Boulder County. He was made chair of the Boulder County Republicans in 1997, and two years later was named chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. He represented Colorado’s Seventh Congressional District from 2003 to 2007. A devout Catholic and member of the Republican Party, Beauprez has long maintained his stance as a moderate conservative despite rightward shifts within the Republican Party. After leaving politics, Beauprez bought a 1,300-acre bison ranch in North Park, where he now spends most of his time.

Steve McKee is the co-founder of McKee Wallwork, a nationally recognized marketing advisory firm that helps organizations and their people become all they're designed to be. He is the author of "When Growth Stalls: How it Happens, Why You're Stuck and What to Do About It", an award-winning business book now published in four languages, and "Power Branding: Leveraging the Success of the World's Best Brands", which one reviewer called “the definitive book on modern branding” that “should be mandatory reading in every business school in America.” Steve’s new book, "Turns: Where Business is Won and Lost", is available now.Steve's firm made the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America its first year of eligibility and has twice won the prestigious Effie Award for marketing effectiveness from the American Marketing Association. The firm has twice been recognized by Advertising Age as Southwest Small Agency of the Year and one of the nation’s Best Places to Work, and has also won the publication’s National B2B Campaign of the Year award. 

Patrice Onwuka is the director of the Center for Economic Opportunity at the Independent Women’s Forum. Patrice co-hosts WMAL-FM’s morning show O’Connor & Company, the leading talk radio station in the DC area every Friday. Patrice is also a senior adjunct fellow with The Philanthropy Roundtable and a Tony Blankley Fellow at The Steamboat Institute. Patrice has worked in policy, advocacy, and communications roles in Washington, D.C. for more than a decade on issues related to the economy, employment, technology, philanthropy, and the criminal justice system. Prior to moving to Washington, Patrice served as a speechwriter for a United Nations spokesman. 

David Williams is the President of The Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation (TPA).  In his 30 years in Washington, DC, David has become an expert in finding and exposing government waste and has helped fine tune criteria in identifying and ultimately eliminating earmarks.  David has appeared on numerous television, radio, and print outlets such as ABC World News Tonight, The Jim Bohannon Show and The New York Times.David’s international expertise ranges from appearing on government waste panels in South Korea and France and he has also advised taxpayer groups from around the world and was instrumental in helping form a taxpayer group in Great Britain.

Dr. Anish Bhatnagar is Chief Executive Officer at Soleno Therapeutics. He is a physician with over 15 years of experience in the medical device and biopharmaceutical industries. His experience spans development of biologics, drugs, drug-device combinations and diagnostic as well as therapeutic medical devices. His prior experience includes working at Coulter Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 1998 to 2000 and Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2000 to 2006.Soleno Therapeutics, is a publicly-traded company researching and developing medicines to treat rare genetic disorders, beginning with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), a rare and life-threatening neurobehavioral, metabolic and endocrine disorder characterized by hyperphagia (insatiable hunger), neurocognitive and behavioral difficulties. Their priority is to bring the first approved treatment to patients to manage the most burdensome aspects of this devastating disorder.

Adam Savit serves as the Director for the China Policy Initiative at America First Policy Instituite (AFPI). He previously served as China Program Coordinator at the Center for Security Policy, building the program from the ground up, and has held research and communications roles in the national security policy space for more than a decade. He was President of the Log Cabin Republicans of Washington, D.C. for five years. 

Hannah Cox is a prominent libertarian writer, commentator, activist, and the Co-Founder of BASEDPolitics.Cox has an extensive resume that began with 5 years working in Nashville’s music industry, interning for Taylor Swift’s management, coordinating red carpets, and overseeing promotional campaigns.Her advocacy work began in 2013 when she served as a pro-bono policy advocate for the National Alliance on Mental Health in Tennessee and began working on the side for a gun-rights group at the same time. Cox went on to work for the Beacon Center of Tennessee as their Director of Outreach where she worked on both legislation and pro-bono economic litigation. In 2018, Cox was tapped to serve as the National Manager of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. During her three years in this role, she overturned the death penalty in a state each year—always with Republican support for the bill.Cox launched her show BASED in 2020 during the pandemic with a passion for teaching people how to think, not what to think. She was convinced after her years of successfully passing legislation with the support of both Democrats and Republicans that Americans are not as far apart as we think. We merely have different solutions for the same problems, and that stems from the fact that we lack a common understanding of the root cause of those issues in the first place (usually government intervention).BASED immediately entered the top 1% of podcasts, launching Cox into her current role as a writer and commentator. She is a frequent guest on Fox News and Fox Business’ Kennedy program and her work is commonly cited by lawmakers and leaders across the political spectrum.

Candace Carroll is the state director at Americans for Prosperity (AFP) for South Carolina. Carroll is an upstate SC native who has served with AFP for a total of five years. Before joining the organization in 2016 as a field director, she served on Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign and development roles for The Heritage Foundation and Winthrop University. Carroll has provided commentary to several news outlets from Greenville to Charleston, including the Post and Courier, WPSA, WCAB, 106.3 The Word’s Charlie James Show, and 94.5 The Morning Answer with Joey Hudson. She also spearheads several statewide policy coalitions, including but not limited to Repeal of Certificate of Need, Criminal Justice Reform, and K-12 Education Reform.

Leslie Graves is the founder and Publisher of Ballotpedia. Graves’s career in digital media and civic activism has spanned several decades, and she has contributed academic scholarship in various publications.

Peter Pitts is President and co-founder of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and serves as a Visiting Professor at University of Paris School of Medicine. He is a former member of the United States Senior Executive Service and Associate Commissioner of the US Food & Drug Administration where he served as senior communications and policy adviser to the Commissioner. He supervised FDA's Office of Public Affairs, Office of the Ombudsman, Office of Special Health Issues, Office of Executive Secretariat, and Advisory Committee Oversight and Management. He has also served on the agency’s obesity working group and counterfeit drug task force.

Mark Walker, Chairman and CEO of Performance Kitchen, the leading Food Is Medicine company revolutionizing the US Healthcare System. Performance Kitchen specializes in the use of Medically Tailored Meals to treat chronic disease. Mark is one of the leading experts in the country on the new industry of Food Is Medicine, which is the application of healthy food paid for by the US Healthcare System. Mark is a CPA and the founder of Dugout Ventures, an athlete-based investment group with Hall of Fame baseball player partners like David Ortiz, Nolan Ryan and Barry Larkin.

Chris Jahn is President and CEO of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the leading association representing the $553-billion U.S. chemicals industry. In this role, Jahn is responsible for driving a pro-growth, science-based public policy agenda that fosters the development of groundbreaking products to improve lives; creates jobs and economic expansion; and enhances public and environmental health and safety.

Elaine Parker is Chief Communications Officer for Job Creators Network, a nonpartisan organization founded by Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus. Elaine leads the organization’s overall strategic media objectives and outreach for members and develops policy positions for the organization.

Thomas M. Sullivan is vice president of small business policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Working with chambers of commerce and the U.S. Chamber’s nationwide network, Sullivan harnesses the views of small businesses and translates that grassroots power into federal policies that bolster free enterprise and reward entrepreneurship. He runs the U.S. Chamber’s Small Business Council, engaging those members on a regular basis to increase small business input and involvement in Chamber activities.

Phyllis Arthur is Senior Vice President for Infectious Diseases and Emerging Science Policy at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). In this role Ms. Arthur is responsible for working with member companies in vaccines, antimicrobial resistance and biodefense on policy, legislative and regulatory issues.