Susan Hager, Founder

Susan founded Hager Sharp in 1973 and steered the firm to its position as one of the most respected communications firms in Washington, DC.  She believed that communications could help make a difference in society, and we join with our clients, partners, and friends to carry on with this legacy.

Susan was an early advocate and role model for women business owners.  In 1973, a time when it was not easy for women to break into the corporate world on their own, Susan and co-founder Marcia Sharp started their firm with one client and a two- person office on K Street.  They specialized in providing corporate, non-profit and government clients with communications, public relations and marketing services.  The firm has since grown to be one of the largest, independently owned communications firms in the Washington area.  Marcia Sharp retired from the partnership in 1993.

Under Susan’s leadership, the firm celebrated its 35th anniversary in June 2008.  Susan was nationally recognized for her advocacy on behalf of women and for her leadership roles in the small business sector.  She was a founder and the first president of the National Association of Women Business Owners, served as president of National Small Business United (now National Small Business Association), and served on the National Advisory Council of the U.S. Small Business Administration under five U.S. presidents.

Susan grew up in Owensboro, Kentucky as the oldest of seven children.  After graduating from Brescia University in Owensboro, Susan volunteered to live in the small Eskimo village of White Mountain, Alaska as part of the Volunteers in Service to America program, known as VISTA.  While there, she initiated a community newspaper and began a Head Start program for this remote Alaska Native village.  In Alaska, she met fellow VISTA volunteer, Eric Hager, and the couple married in 1967.

Soon thereafter, they moved to Washington where Susan worked on behalf of VISTA and the Peace Corps as a recruitment officer.  She then served as a program analyst for the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity and program director for the National Center for Voluntary Action, before starting her firm.

In 1991, Susan was appointed to the Board of Trustees of The Lab School of Washington and served as Chair and President for more than a decade.  Under Susan’s leadership the School completed a $9 million capital campaign which dramatically improved the School’s facilities and capacity to meet the needs of students with learning disabilities.

As an adult, Susan was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease and in 2001 received a kidney transplant at the Washington Hospital Center.  The procedure was successful and she quickly returned to an active role with the firm and her many community activities.

Susan has served on the boards of directors of Leadership Greater Washington, the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and the Council on Small Business of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Susan was the recipient of several awards.  In 2000, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame of the National Association of Women Business Owners, and in 2001 Working Woman magazine singled Susan out as one of 25 “heroines (and heroes) whose actions over the last quarter century have given women in the workplace a better shot.”

She also received Leadership Washington’s 2003 “Volunteer of the Year Award.”  In 2004 Susan was the recipient of the “Washingtonian of the Year” award from Washingtonian magazine, the “Women Who Mean Business” award from Washington Business Journal, and was named “Woman of the Year” by Washington Women in Public Relations.  In 2005, she was inducted into the Public Relations Society of America’s National Capitol Chapter Hall of Fame.

Susan loved to entertain family, friends, and colleagues and throughout her life in Washington, she worked and socialized with people from all parts of the community.  Her annual Kentucky Derby party was always a popular springtime event that brought together the wide cross-section of her many friends and business associates.