Reese Goldsmith

Head of Government Affairs

Reese Goldsmith is Head of Government Affairs at Ara Partners, based in Washington, D.C. She oversees the firm’s government affairs strategy, policy monitoring, and outreach to key elected officials across portfolio companies.

During her tenure at Ara, Reese has supported portfolio companies’ efforts to win federal grants and contracts across both Democratic and Republican administrations. She helped secure over $230 million in state and federal grants, tax credits, and federal contracts for the U.S. rare earth magnet supply chain, and advises on the investment and production tax credits that help bring new technology to scale. She has also grown Ara’s advisory function to focus policy monitoring and intervention on the three areas of greatest impact for the firm’s portfolio: tax, trade, and incentives.

Prior to joining Ara, Reese was a Senior Policy Advisor at Holland & Knight LLP, where she helped secure over $1 billion in federal grants and loans through programs funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. Before that, she was an Associate and Policy Advisor in the Energy, Environment, and Resources Strategies Group at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. Earlier in her career, Reese worked across several federal agencies on energy and environmental law and policy, including the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. She has also contracted with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office.

Reese holds a B.A. in Political Science from Virginia Tech and a J.D. from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. Outside of work, she enjoys escaping to the countryside with her Labrador Retriever, Lily, visiting museums across Washington, D.C., and mentoring.