Taite R. McDonald

Taite R. McDonald is co-chair of the Energy Transition Industry Sector Group and leader of the firm's Energy Technology Funding and Finance Team in Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C., office. Ms. McDonald focuses her practice on government technology funding and finance loan guarantees and grant programs, with a proven track record of experience in all stages of the process, from initial profile raising and application to execution and ongoing contract management. She is especially well versed in running complex, cross-government matters with intricate legal, policy and financing components. Most notably, Ms. McDonald is a go-to person for resolving complex government agency energy issues.

Ms. McDonald provides counsel to companies of all sizes, from early-stage startups to Fortune 100 companies and large utilities. Most notably, Ms. McDonald's team has helped companies win approximately four dozen awards totaling more than $5 billion in nondilutive grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Ms. McDonald's team has also helped nearly a dozen of the previously noted awards successfully navigate the government grant negotiation process, and successful negotiations currently total nearly $10 billion. Additionally, as a result of her deep programmatic experience since the inception of the program, Ms. McDonald has successfully represented nearly two dozen clients in navigating the DOE Loan Program to obtain conditional commitments in excess of $12 billion. Ms. McDonald's experience also includes a number of successful advocacy campaigns to fund, improve and create many of the programs from which she has helped clients successfully obtain funding.

In addition to her energy finance track record and accolades at the DOE, Ms. McDonald has helped numerous companies successfully obtain federal leases and procurement contracts for energy projects from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

In 2019, Ms. McDonald was selected as a Holland & Knight Rising Star. In 2021, Law360 named Ms. McDonald a Rising Star in its annual publication honoring top lawyers under 40 for her bipartisan work with Congress, agencies and applicants between 2016 and 2020 to unlock $40 billion of previously stranded capital in the DOE Loan Program. In 2021, Ms. McDonald was also named by Business Insider as a top lawyer advising electric vehicle companies. In 2024, Ms. McDonald was named one of the 500 most influential people in Washington by Washingtonian Magazine.