While a student at Syracuse University, Jacobson organized her first fundraiser, an event in support of Sen. Gary Hart’s 1984 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. She served on Sen. Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 1988, on Gov. Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1991, and as finance director of the 1992 Presidential Inaugural Committee. She subsequently served as finance chair of both the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Leadership Council. From 1995 through 2010, Jacobson served as national finance director for Sen. Evan Bayh, leading the senator’s finance team, and overseeing his political and fundraising strategy during his 2008 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
No Labels
Jacobson founded No Labels in 2010 to promote greater bipartisanship efforts. Under Jacobson’s leadership, No Labels has championed ideas designed to put problem solving above politics, many of them published in books and proposals including Make Congress Work!, Make the Presidency Work!, Make Government Work!, Policy Playbook for America's Next President, and most recently in 2018, The Speaker Project. A number of proposals from these booklets, including “No Budget, No Pay” and “Healthcare for Heroes,” have been signed into law. Jacobson’s’ work helped create Problem Solvers Caucus, a bloc of House members split between Democrats and Republicans committed to finding bipartisan solutions. During the 2017-2018 Congress, the Caucus, which grew to encompass 48 members, released the only major bipartisan fix for health care, and released bipartisan proposals on gun safety, infrastructure, immigration and border security. In 2018, No Labels’ The Speaker Project initiative proposed leveraging the election of a new speaker to change the House rules in order to give bipartisan ideas a better representation in Congress. Speaking to The New York Times about the potential for reforms in Congress, Jacobson said, “It seems like there is disruption brewing. I feel like it is ripe.” A few months later, in January 2019, the new majority in the House led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a comprehensive reform package that included many of the House rules changes which No Labels had supported through The Speaker Project.
Personal and Family
Nancy Jacobson was born in Miami and graduated from Syracuse University. She is married to Mark Penn, President and Managing Partner of The Stagwell Group, former Democratic pollster and executive for Microsoft Corporation and Burson-Marsteller. The couple met in 1996 when Evan Bayh, then governor of Indiana, introduced them at a Democratic Leadership Council event. Married since 1999, they are parents to daughter Blair and three children from Penn's previous marriage, Jackie, Miles and Margot.
