Ben Goodman

Maine Dept of Economic and Community Development
Liaison for Legislative Policy and External Communication

Ben Goodman has deep experience developing and strengthening state and federal health policy.

From 2018 to 2022, Ben served as National Director of Mission: Readiness, a nonprofit advocacy organization of nearly 800 retired admirals and generals focused on advancing policies to combat the major health barriers that keep more than 70% of young Americans from being eligible to serve in the military.

Prior to joining Mission: Readiness, Ben served as the top health policy advisor to former U.S. Congressman Mike Michaud, Ranking Member of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. In this role, Ben helped to secure key veterans’ health provisions in the landmark Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014.

Ben currently serves as the spokesman and legislative liaison for the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

In addition to Ben’s significant health policy experience, he has extensive personal and family experience with liver health, profiled in 2015 by The Washington Post. Ben earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Maine, where he received highest honors for his thesis on the history of the Democratic Presidential Primary process. The research was used as the basis of a 2020 FiveThirtyEight podcast series, The Primaries Project.