Rick Jackson (businessman)

Richard L. Jackson (born 1954 or 1955) is an American businessman who founded and leads Jackson Healthcare, a healthcare staffing and services company based in Alpharetta, Georgia. He is a candidate in the 2026 Georgia gubernatorial election Republican primary.

Jackson has described a childhood in Midtown Atlanta marked by poverty and later time in the foster care system. He graduated from Greater Atlanta Christian School and attended Lipscomb University in Nashville to study business before dropping out due to financial difficulties.

Jackson founded his first medical recruitment business in 1978.

In 2012, Jackson, with Atlanta-area businessmen Michael Kendrick and Larry Powell, purchased Family Christian Stores (FRS) from Madison Dearborn Partners. The company was converted to a nonprofit and made a subsidiary of Family Christian Resource Centers (FCRC), controlled by Jackson. A 2015 plan by Jackson to restructure FRS was opposed by the U.S. Trustee Office and initially rejected by a bankruptcy judge.

Jackson co-established Jackson Acquisitions with Jeb Bush; Bush was chairman and Jackson was CEO. They dissolved the SPAC in 2023. The Internal Revenue Service sued Jackson Investment Group LLC in 2024 for underreporting $72 million in taxable income for 2019, seeking $38 million.

In 2000, he founded Jackson Healthcare, which provides healthcare staffing and workforce services. The company opened a new $100 million campus in March 2019, designed by architectural firm Rule Joy Trammell Rubio (RJTR) and styled after an Italian piazza. Jackson Healthcare earned nearly $1 billion from 2020 through 2026 — most during the COVID-19 pandemic — from various Georgia agencies through state contracts.

In 2021, Jackson Healthcare purchased USAntibiotics, an antibiotics manufacturer in Bristol, Tennessee. Jackson Healthcare acquired Omaha-based LRS Healthcare in May 2023. Jackson Healthcare is privately-held and reports more than $3 billion in annual revenue. John Bardis, Jeb Bush, and Tom Price are on the advisory board.

In the 2010s, Jackson paid to promote an unsuccessful overhaul of Georgia medical malpractice claims, and wanted to privatize the state's foster care system. He gave $1 million to Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC which supports Donald Trump, in December 2025.

A Fox News report showed that FEC filings reveal that Jackson had donated to politicians opposed to Donald Trump in the years prior to his December 2025 donation. Jackson donated to Liz Cheney's leadership PAC shortly after she voted to impeach Trump. He also donated to Nikki Haley when she was running against Trump in 2024.

Georgia GOP activist Eric Tanenblatt, who has worked for Jackson, in 2026 called Jackson "rock-solid conservative" and "obviously a successful business person".

In February 2026, Jackson announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor of Georgia and said he would self-fund a major portion of his campaign. He wants to freeze Georgia's property tax and cut the state's income tax in half. Describing his stance on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in an interview with WSB-TV, Jackson said, "I believe in diversity and inclusion. I don't believe in equity. I don't believe in equal outcomes, period," calling the latter "communism".

He supports increasing prescription drug manufacturing in the United States.

Jackson lives in Cumming, Georgia, in a 47,000-square-foot (4,400 m2) mansion known as "Le Rêve". He and his wife Melody (née Moore) have three children. Shane Jackson is president of Jackson Healthcare, and Chad Jackson runs the Jackson Family Foundation.

Jackson co-produced the film 90 Minutes in Heaven (2015). He is a Christian.

• Rick Jackson for Governor