Gary Bauer

Senior Vice President of Public Policy for JDFI

Gary has an accomplished career in the public policy field, having served in numerous leadership positions during the past several decades. He participated in the Reagan administration as Under Secretary of Education, and then White House Head of the Office of Policy Development. After leaving the Reagan White House, Gary became president of the Family Research Council and senior vice president of Focus on the Family. He later shared his pro-faith, pro-family, and pro-life policies across the country during the 2000 Republican presidential primaries and debates. In 2018, President Donald Trump appointed Gary Bauer to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Joseph Backholm

JDFI special co-host for Countdown to Decision 2024

Joseph Backholm is a lawyer, writer, and host of the podcast Outstanding. He is a Senior Fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement at Family Research Council, columnist for World Opinions, and co-creator of the card game Wokelandia, a fun-with-friends battle between the Oppressors and the Oppressed. He developed a YouTube channel for the Colson Center called What Would You Say? which is a series of short, animated videos answering questions about faith and culture. He served as a legislative attorney in the Washington State Senate and spent 10 years as the President and General Counsel of the Family Policy Institute of Washington. He combines extensive legal, political, and policy experience with a love for the way biblical truth cultivates human flourishing.

He is a Washington State native who loves travel, sports, and spending time with his children. Joseph received his bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and his law degree from Seattle University. He and his wife Brook have four children and live in North Carolina.

Alison Centofante

JDFI special co-host for the Countdown to Decision 2024 

Alison is a child advocacy innovator, in-demand public speaker, activist, and writer with over ten years of experience speaking on abortion, marriage, human dignity, and religious freedom. She is currently the President of Centofante Strategies, LLC a consulting firm focused on pro-family, pro-life projects, and is serving as the Chairwoman of the Board for the Center for Client Safety, an organization dedicated to shutting down abortion businesses through investigation and accountability. Centofante has been featured on Fox News, ABC, NPR, The Christian Broadcasting Network, and other national and international media outlets. Her work and expert perspective have been published in Yahoo News, Business Insider, Buzzfeed, National Review Online, Fox News, World Magazine, Red Alert Politics, and The Federalist.

Alison most recently served as Director of External Affairs at Live Action, a nonprofit organization with the largest digital footprint in the global pro-life movement. Before that, Alison served as Director of Alliance Relations at Alliance Defending Freedom, a global legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, marriage, family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life. She started her work in Washington, D.C., as Communications Director at Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization. Alison was named to Red Alert Politics “30 under 30” and Christianity Today’s Readers Choice “33 under Thirty-Three.”