Nancy Bagley is the president of the Arca Foundation, a foundation funder of various left-of-center causes and groups. She is also on the board of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, a North Carolina-based funder of left-wing groups and causes in that state. She also is the editor of Washington Life magazine, a high-society publication in Washington, D.C.

Bagley is an heir to the R.J. Reynolds tobacco fortune and the daughter of Smith Bagley, a left-wing activist and operative whom she succeeded as president of Arca. She also previously worked on healthcare issues in the Clinton White House Office of Public Liaison and for the Democratic National Committee. ¹

Early Life

Nancy Bagley is the daughter of Smith Bagley, the former president of Arca and an heir to the R.J. Reynolds tobacco fortune. She is also the granddaughter of Nancy Susan Reynolds, who is the founder of Arca. ²

She was a staffer on the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign in 1992 and later joined the Clinton White House. ^{3 4} Her policy focus was on health care and she was part of the team that tried to sell the unpopular “Hillarycare” government-run healthcare proposal. Later, she moved over to the Democratic National Committee. ⁵

After her stint with the Democratic National Committee, Bagley moved on to the private sector. She served as coordinator of corporate communications for B.M.G. Entertainment in New York City. ⁶

Bagley later took over as editor of Washington Life magazine from her mother, Vicki Bagley. Her husband is Washington Life publisher Soroush Shehabi. ⁷

Reynolds Advocacy Philanthropies

In 2001, Nancy Bagley joined the board of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. The foundation is a funder of a various assortment of left-wing causes, among them advocating legal status for illegal immigrants to targeting conservative and Republican lawmakers and policies. ⁸ Currently, she serves as vice president of the foundation. ⁹

In 2010, Nancy’s father Smith Bagley died suddenly while on vacation. Nancy took over Arca Foundation as its president and she has remained there ever since. ¹⁰

Under her administration, Arca has shifted its donations and began working more on economic and financial issues, funding left-wing groups looking to expand federal government control over the economy. Arca continues to hold shares in financial and energy companies. ¹¹

Issue Advocacy

Nancy Bagley is a supporter of statehood for the District of Columbia. She has supported the cause through both Arca and Washington Life. In 2014, she was honored by DC Vote with their Democracy All-Star Award for her work supporting DC statehood. ¹²

Bagley is also a supporter of restricting free speech through campaign finance laws. In 2014, she signed onto a pledge from Common Cause to end campaign contributions unless candidates endorsed the Fair Elections Now Act. The legislation would limit how much candidates could raise from individual donors and it would establish a system of government-financed elections. The letter that Bagley signed onto was also signed by other big left-wing donors such as J.J. Abrams, Ben Cohen, and Jonathan Soros. ¹³

1. “Board & Staff.” The Arca Foundation. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.arcafoundation.org/about-us/board-staff/.
2. “Board & Staff”. 2019. Arca Foundation. Accessed April 29. https://www.arcafoundation.org/about-us/board-staff/.
3. Volpe, Michael. 2013. “From Tobacco To Politics: The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Works To Turn North Carolina Into A Bastion Of Liberalism”. Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/article/from-tobacco-to-politics/.
4. Volpe, Michael. 2013. “From Tobacco To Politics: The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Works To Turn North Carolina Into A Bastion Of Liberalism”. Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/article/from-tobacco-to-politics/.
5. “Board & Staff”. 2019. Arca Foundation. Accessed April 29. https://www.arcafoundation.org/about-us/board-staff/.
6. “Board & Staff”. 2019. Arca Foundation. Accessed April 29. https://www.arcafoundation.org/about-us/board-staff/.
7. Glover, Mary. 2007. “Luxury Homes: August 2007”. Washingtonian. https://www.washingtonian.com/2007/08/01/luxury-homes-august-2007/.
8. Volpe, Michael. 2013. “From Tobacco To Politics: The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Works To Turn North Carolina Into A Bastion Of Liberalism”. Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/article/from-tobacco-to-politics/.
9. “Board & Staff”. 2019. Arca Foundation. Accessed April 29. https://www.arcafoundation.org/about-us/board-staff/.
10. “Arca Foundation”. 2019. Discover The Networks. Accessed April 29. http://www.discoverthenetworks.com/funderprofile.asp?fndid=5282.
11. McMorris, Bill. 2012. “Arca’S Millions”. Washington Free Beacon. https://freebeacon.com/issues/arcas-millions/
12. Cavander, Catherine. 2014. “Nancy Bagley: Democracy All-Star”. Dcvote. https://www.dcvote.org/blog/nancy-bagley-democracy-all-star.
13. “Major Campaign Donors Launch Funders Pledge, Vowing Not To Donate To Politicans Unless They Support Fair Elections”. 2014. Common Cause. https://www.commoncause.org/media/major-campaign-donors-launch-funders-pledge-vowing-not-to-donate-to-politicans-unless-they-support-fair-elections/.