Hagood, Reginald
Flip Hagood
Reginald “Flip” Hagood has been a model of national service throughout his life. After serving with the US Marine Corps, he had a 25-year career with the National Park Service. While with the Park Service, Hagood served on the Student Conservation Association (SCA) Board of Directors and, upon retiring from the Park Service, took the position of Deputy Program Director for SCA’s Conservation Career Development Program in Washington, D.C. He served on the SCA President’s Council following a 20-year run as senior vice president with SCA. Hagood influenced the lives and trajectories of thousands of young conservation leaders and countless SCA staff members. He has also tirelessly advocated for diversity and social justice within the conservation field.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in this work over the last 50+ years. That includes my own personal experiences of not being allowed to participate, whether that was not being able to swim or get a drink of water because of someone’s perception of me primarily based on color. Exclusion to me is a negative that I won’t accept. It’s always been a motivator for me personally to, at any chance, try to open opportunities across the board and break down barriers that might keep someone separate because of their race, ethnicity, gender, age, any factor. I’ve tried to break down those barriers and create more equity, diversity, and inclusivity in the green movement. This isn’t easy because exclusivity is a part of this movement and part of its history. To remedy that, and allow people to experience what I think are the values of spending time outdoors and experiencing nature, we can meet people where they are.” - Reginald Hagood (in The Corps Network 2018).
Reginald “Flip” Hagood was born in August 1945 in Washington, D.C. The middle child of Blondell Hagood, a former retail service employee, and Warren Hagood, a retired postal employee, Hagood grew up in Southeast Washington close to the Anacostia River. He knew many parks within the National Capital Region, including Anacostia Park and Rock Creek Park, and went to Prince William Forest Park for his first overnight camping trip. Hagood recalls, “My interest in the Park Service came about by playing in parks and learning about the outdoors as a child. I credit my grandfather with a lot of that; every summer up until I was 14, I spent with him in the Carolinas. That was outdoor time for me, doing everything one can do in the outdoors as a young person and exploring with him and learning about the land. Many ethics and lessons came from spending time with family in rural South Carolina during those 90-day summer breaks from school” (The Corps Network 2018). As Hagood grew older, his interest in the outdoors expanded when he visited Shenandoah National Park as a high school student. This closeness to nature, combined with summer trips to his grandparent’s home in rural South Carolina, significantly influenced his decision to pursue an environmental career.
His first formal job was at 14 when he no longer went to Carolina in the summer. From then on, he held a job every summer. Hagood had his first government job at 15 in a new program in the Washington D.C. area, where they hired local youth. He worked as a laborer at the Pentagon. He graduated from Eastern High School in Washington, D.C., a public school in the same neighborhood where he has lived much of his life.
Hagood attended Howard University and American University as an undergraduate. He graduated in 1972 with a degree in criminal justice. While at Howard, he worked the night shift at a government printing office, starting his career in public service. Hagood’s early start in government work allowed him to retire with 30 years of service when he was still in his early 50s. Later on, while stationed in Georgia with the Park Service, Hagood attended Nova Southeastern University for graduate school.
As a young man, Hagood served in the military before leaving to start a law enforcement career with the National Park Service (NPS). With this job, he combined his law enforcement background with his love for the outdoors. He left law enforcement to become a park ranger, then later a park manager. Hagood was next an employee development specialist and instructor for the NPS. As the NPS Chief of Employee Development and Training, he managed professional development training for NPS employees nationwide. In 1994, after serving over 25 years with the park service and 30 years of government service, Hagood retired as the Chief of the Employee Development Division.
Before leaving the NPS, Hagood began serving with Student Conservation Association (SCA) as a council and board member. His retirement from NPS coincided with his transition to Deputy Program Director of SCA’s Conservation Career Development Program (CCDP) position. Joining SCA in 1995, Hagood became familiar with their work through its partnership with the National Park Service. His position at the Park Service allowed him to learn about youth organizations that educate and train young people in the outdoors.
Hagood championed SCA’s then-nascent urban conservation program. He soon became a program director and then Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives. Next, Hagood had a 20-year run in several program and partnership arenas as SCA’s Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Business Development in the capital office. He also served on the SCA President’s Council.
During his time at SCA, Hagood impacted and supported thousands of high school students, college interns, and staff seeking to serve the environment. He was at the forefront of developing urban-based programs for youth and young adults interested in conservation careers. Hagood was essential in creating SCA’s Washington D.C. Urban Community program. This was a pioneer program focused on engaging local D.C. youth in conservation service. The program has grown from its inception decades ago to more than 15 urban centers that reach almost 1,000 youth each year.
Hagood lived in many states and traveled a lot in his career, having worked in Georgia, Arizona, and the beltway area of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. Most of his life has been spent in the Mid-Atlantic, particularly the D.C. metropolitan area. Hagood’s influence and impact have extended far beyond the NPS and SCA into all aspects of the environmental movement, including nonprofits, government service, and even the corporate world. He is a respected advisor advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the conservation workforce. Although he retired in 2015, he continues to mentor many students and professionals, guiding their careers and amplifying their impact. His voice has been highly influential in helping organizations like National Outdoor Leadership School and The Wilderness Society better understand their obligation to be more inclusive as they deliver their missions. Hagood has served on several boards, including The Wilderness Society, the National Outdoor Leadership School, The Park and History Association, NatureBridge, and The Institute for Conservation Leadership. In 2018, Hagood was awarded The Corps Network Legacy Achievement Award from AmeriCorps.
Throughout his career, Hagood sought mentors with similar educational backgrounds and whose professions reflected the next step on his career path. His mentors were successful executive-level staff who showed him how to be successful in his career pursuits. One mentor within the human resources field provided him with advice on how to make the transition from criminal justice work to work in professional development and education. Hagood was part of the first generation of public service employees to benefit from federal diversity initiatives and maximized opportunities for people of color to have leadership positions. Even though the lowest point of his career was feeling unfairly overlooked for a job, he has always considered that a learning experience and has continued to work in the field. His ability to connect his love for the outdoors and his love of working with young people has kept him engaged in environmental work.
Hagood sees mentoring others as a form of personal reinvestment. He has often returned to speak to people of color at his former colleges. He works with a wide range of students to help them define strategies for success and to increase their number of professional connections. Hagood considers his work in developing programs to guide young people – especially those from diverse backgrounds and those with disabilities – his most significant achievement. He feels that helping cultivate young leadership is his biggest reward for all his efforts.
He would advise students of color interested in the environmental field to be flexible in what opportunities they are willing to take, have an innate love for the environment, and consider themselves “lifelong learners.”
Cornershop. 2017. “SCA’s Hagood Hagood Named The Corps Network’s 2018 Legacy Achievement Award Winner”. December 18, 2017. Accessed on March 1, 2023. https://www.thesca.org/connect/blog/scas-Hagood-hagood-named-the-corps-n….
Taylor, Dorceta E., Editor. 2005. The Paths We Tread: Profiles of the Careers of Minority Environmental Professionals. Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative, University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment.
The Corps Network. 2018. “An Interview with Reginald “Hagood” Hagood, The Corps Network 2018 Legacy Achievement Honoree.” Americorps/The Corps Network. Accessed on March 1, 2023. https://corpsnetwork.org/an-interview-with-reginald-Hagood-hagood-the-co….
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