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Hilary Hager

Hilary Hager is the Senior Director of Volunteer Engagement at The Humane Society of the United States. Before joining The HSUS in 2011, she spent 11 years managing volunteers and other programs for two shelters in Washington state. She is on the Board of the Washington State Federation and has a long history of saying yes when she’s asked to help animals, from serving on the board of a chimpanzee sanctuary, to fostering, to transporting animals from Puerto Rico to WA. She is a runner to wear out her high energy dog, and has recently taken up ice hockey, which does doesn’t necessarily meet the criteria of “self-care.”

Content by Hilary Hager

  • Magazine Article

    How to get the most out of Animal Care Expo

    So does Sherbet.

    The senior director of volunteer engagement for The HSUS shares her best tips for effective networking at conferences

    by Hilary Hager

    Full disclosure: I hate networking. I’m not on LinkedIn, I loathe going into a room where I don’t really know someone and having to strike up a conversation (it’s so much like college: “What’s your major?”) and if “networking” is in the title of an event, I usually skip it. I know there are a million articles explaining both why networking is important and how to do it, but this is just how I am. I can’t help it.

    So, imagine my surprise when my colleague asked me to write a blog about it!

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  • Blog Post

    Got compassion fatigue?

    Sleepy pup

    Animal protection work is really, really hard. Discover how to take better care of yourself, so that you can take better care of the animals in your care.

    by Hilary Hager

    Before coming to The HSUS over five years ago, I spent about 11 years working in two different shelters in Washington state, where I live. I wore about fifty different hats, managing volunteer programs, foster care, outreach and education programs, and doing just about every shelter task there is, from intakes to adoptions, and from cleaning cages to euthanasia. Being a “shelter person” wasn’t just a job for me; it was my identity. It was hard, it was often frustrating and even heartbreaking, but it was all I wanted to do.

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