Jim Daly (born July 22, 1961) is the head of Focus on the Family, an international Christian communications ministry based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He succeeded founder James Dobson in 2005. Daly is the main host of the Focus on the Family radio program. Early life, influence, education and career Daly grew up in Southern California. According to Daly, he was abandoned by his alcoholic father at age 5, and orphaned by his mother's death from cancer when he was 9. He was then placed in a foster home, initially in Morongo Valley, California, until he moved in with his older brothers and then with his father, who eventually turned back to alcohol and died. By the time that Daly was a senior in high school, he was living on his own. Daly experienced a Christian conversion at 15 while attending a camp run by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He went on to study at California State University, San Bernardino, and eventually earned his Master of Business Administration from Regis University. Daly worked in the paper industry until he was recruited to join Focus on the Family, at one-third of his six-figure private-sector pay. He has served at Focus for 16 years in a variety of positions, including assistant to the president for Public Affairs, Vice President of the International Division, and a Group Vice President under former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Interior Donald P. Hodel (then Focus President), before ascending to the presidency. Focus on the Family In 2009, the Denver Post reported that Daly shared Dobson's views in the public-policy arena, but had taken a different approach from that of his predecessor. Daly referred to himself as more of an evangelist than a prophet. He believed that the Christian community should demonstrate the values it wishes to promote, and maintain civil discourse. While Dobson's approach was often political, Daly and his colleagues have said that he is trying to make it less so. According to reports about a decade ago, Daly and his colleagues, similarly to Dobson, opposed abortion and same-sex marriage, but also wished to address issues other than these typical evangelical hot-button issues; they "want[ed] to frame political work as an inspirational call to do good—not just to oppose what they view[ed] as sinful behavior." In a 2009 interview with the Washington Post, Daly stated,I am pro-life, I am pro-traditional marriage.