James Clayton "Jim" Dobson is the chairman of the board of Focus on the Family, a nonprofit organization he founded in 1977. In this function, he produces the daily radio program Focus on the Family, which is broadcast in more than a dozen languages and on over 7,000 stations worldwide, and heard daily by more than 220 million people in 164 countries. Focus on the Family is also carried by about 60 U.S. television stations daily. He founded the Family Research Council in 1981.

He is an evangelical Christian with conservative views on theology and politics. He was recently named "The Most Influential Evangelical Leader in America" by Christianity Today magazine, and many see him as the successor to evangelical leaders Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.. In January 24, 1989, he was able to interview America's most notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy right before Bundy's execution.