Retiring CEO Attributes CCDBR’s Successes to “Effort of All”

As David Aguillard retires after 16 years as chief executive officer of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge (CCDBR), he has an impressive list of professional achievements, particularly in what CCDBR has accomplished under his leadership. Yet, he humbly sets aside any personal accolades, saying it was all in his call to serve, and any accomplishments by CCDBR are due to the people he has worked with. 

“I always envisioned my professional career as one of service,” said Aguillard, who was born in New Orleans and raised by a strong Catholic family. “My first career out of college was journalism (he was an award-winning journalist who worked for several major daily newspapers in the Midwest), which journalists are idealistically of service to the public. 

“I got a little frustrated in journalism because all you do is watch and write about people doing things you don’t actually do yourself.” 

Aguillard worked for the state of Missouri on welfare and health care reform and was appointed by the governor to serve as director of a presidential commission on urban poverty. 

When his children, Emmi, Anna Marie, and David were born, Aguillard’s family moved back to Louisiana to be closer to their families. 

“Being raised in a Catholic New Orleans family, the value of Catholic service was always important to me, as it’s always been to the Catholic Church,” Aguillard said. “Since its founding, the Catholic Church has had some of the greatest saints: St. Paul and St. Peter, St. Peter Claver, people who served the poor. It’s as old as the Jewish Scriptures, and that is important to me in the concept of Judeo-Christian justice. 

“It’s not just a decision handed down by the legal system. It is an action of taking care of widows, strangers, and children.” 

Before joining Catholic Charities, Aguillard served as President and CEO of Lake Physician Health Organization. Bishop Emeritus Robert W. Muench appointed Aguillard as head of CCDBR in 2008. Additionally, he’s served on the Executive Committee of the CCUSA Council of Diocesan Directors, as well as on the Management and Administration Working Group.  

Locally, he’s served on numerous boards and commissions dedicated to public welfare. 

When speaking about the strides of excellence CCDBR has made in serving people, Aguillard talks in the collective sense of “we” rather than the personal sense of “I.” 

“Everything we've accomplished while they've been here is because of the selflessness, the intelligence, and the Catholic commitment of the people that I work with,” said Aguillard.  “That is what the hardest thing for me is about leaving is. 

“I just treasure the people here. Every time I have a meeting these days and I look at their faces, I want to just freeze that moment in time and as I look back and I think about what we achieved.” 

Aguillard said it all began with the development of a strategic plan, in which CCDBR engaged with the Diocese of Baton Rouge Chancery Office, with Bishop Emeritus Muench and then Vicar General Father Than Vu (deceased). 

“We knew we didn’t have a clear strategic vision of where Catholic Charities would go, but we took the time, putting together a strategic plan.” 

Aguillard said the power of the church is in its organizational consistency with its mission, which is as old as Christ and the structure that supports that. 

“Nothing is more powerful on this earth than aligning with an organized organization doing the Gospel, and we emerged with an alignment between the chancery and the advisory board and leadership staff here. And we’ve had explosive, creative growth serving those populations that are the core of our Catholic mission of service.”    

This included expanding CCDBR’s Sanctuary for Life, which supports pregnant, homeless women; the creation of an Immigration Legal Services Department that serves neighboring states as well as the Baton Rouge area; and implementing an innovative early- childhood/parenting support program to an underserved rural area. 

Under Aguillard’s leadership, CCDBR implemented a process which led to a threefold increase in grants and donations for the agency, a strategic planning process that resulted in a five-year plan giving direction to the agency for its post-Katrina era.  

The restructuring enabled CCDBR to respond more quickly to the evolving needs of the diocese through the creation of a unique non-profit financial services corporation to offer consumer loans and other financial services as an alternative to payday loan storefronts. Aguillard is a founding board member of this corporation. 

CCDBR is also known around the country as being an expert in disaster response and recovery, said Aguillard. 

“We have sent people after tornadoes in Oklahoma. I went to help Catholic Charities in Colorado after wildfires. We've sent people to Hawaii and American Samoa, those American states and territories where Catholic Charities USA has a presence.” 

CCDBR is also skilled at handling disasters “at home,” such as the flood of 2016. While it took several weeks for agencies to be able to cross the Atchafalaya Basin, within four to six weeks, CCDBR was staffed with 150 case managers and served people throughout the diocese, according to Aguillard. 

 Additionally, CCDBR became the first agency to receive Hague accreditation, a requirement of many international placing agencies and countries. CCDBR is the only Hague-accredited agency based in Louisiana.  

Everything CCDBR does is to support and console a hurting world with a Gospel focus, noted Aguillard. 

“If you want to know where the pain is in your community, go to your local Catholic Charities,” he said … “The pain of our community walks through our doors. And it’s our privilege to see in them the presence of Christ.” 

Aguillard does not have specific post-retirement plans. 

“I love to backpack in the mountains with my kids. I love cycling. That’s my plan. I jokingly say I'm going to sell my house, buy a camper, put my bikes on the back and take off,” he said with a smile.