Biography

Jim Ross is a nationally recognized expert in campaign management, political strategy and public affairs. With more than fifteen years of campaign management experience, Jim has managed and won both candidate and initiative campaigns at the local, state and federal level. He is frequently called on to speak before organizations and comment to the media on political strategy.

In November of 2006, Jim and his firm managed Governor Ted Kulongoski’s (D-OR) reelection campaign. Pundits at the Washington Post and the National Journal considered Governor Kulongoski one of the most threatened Democratic incumbent governors in the country. Despite being out spend by more than 50%, Governor Kulongoski won reelection by more than 8%.

Recently, Jim Ross has helped to build a statewide small business organization in California, run city council campaigns in New York City, defeated ballot measures in San Francisco, helped preserve open space in the San Francisco Bay Area and managed legislative campaigns through out Northern California.

In 2003, Jim managed the campaign to elect Gavin Newsom Mayor of San Francisco.

Prior to Newsom’s campaign, Mr. Ross’s firm ran the successful campaign to pass Proposition N (Care Not Cash) which garnered national attention to the issue of solving homelessness in San Francisco. Calpeek, California’s leading political journal, called Ross’s efforts “The best local campaign of 2002.” Proposition N received 59% of the vote, when just one year before a similar effort failed. Also during the 2002 election cycle, Mr. Ross’s firm managed the efforts of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 1245, to address measures on the San Francisco ballot.

Prior to forming his own firm, Mr. Ross was Director of Public Affairs and Political Campaigns for Solem & Associates, one of California’s oldest campaign management and public affairs agencies. His diverse political campaign experience includes legislative races in Sonoma and Los Angeles counties, congressional campaigns in Louisiana and ballot initiatives throughout California and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Mr. Ross has served as a special assistant to former San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan overseeing a diverse range of policy areas, including Parks and Recreation, the Fine Arts Museums, the Department of Parking and Traffic and the Municipal Railway.

Mr. Ross is a graduate of St. Mary’s College, California, with a degree in Government with minors in Economics and History. He played linebacker on St. Mary’s football team, wrote for the school paper and participated in model United Nations. Before his work in politics, he taught skiing at Diamond Peak and Kirkwood Ski Resorts.