Aguirre is named executive director of the Adirondack Council

Environmental advocacy group bolsters diversity among park leaders 

By Gwendolyn Craig

The acting executive director of the Adirondack Council is now the permanent leader.

The environmental lobbying and activist organization is preparing to announce Raul “Rocci” Aguirre, 51, as executive director. He will manage the largest nonprofit group in the Adirondack Park, taking over for  Willie Janeway, who announced his plans to step down earlier this year. 

Aguirre, of Keene, is also the council’s first person of color in its top management position, and the council’s seventh executive director.

Sarah Collum Hatfield, chair of the council, said as the search for a new leader was underway “it became clear through internal discussions and with stakeholders across the region and in Albany, that the right candidate was already serving as our acting executive director.”

She recognized “a generational shift” occurring among leaders in the Adirondacks. “As a board we unanimously agreed that Rocci is the most qualified and capable person to lead the organization into this new era,” Hatfield said. Several nonprofit organizations have announced new management in recent months. Key North Country state agencies, including the Adirondack Park Agency, have replaced retiring administrators.

In an interview with the Explorer on Tuesday, Aguirre noted the changing  “leadership paradigm that’s happening” across the park.

“I think that’s a real opportunity that we haven’t had in a long time,” Aguirre said. “I think for me, being able to build on my deep background, to help be a part of a new conversation, I really see that wilderness and wilderness management and ecological integrity of our most precious wild places is intricately connected to the wellbeing and vibrancy of our communities.”

Aguirre grew up in the Hudson Valley. His first introduction to the Adirondacks came in 1993 on a SUNY Cortland trip to Raquette Lake. The excursion was an outdoor practicum for his bachelor of science degree in outdoor recreation. He also received a bachelor of arts degree in American history. Aguirre has a master’s in resource management and conservation from Antioch University New England.

Aguirre wanted to be a ranger, and before transitioning into the nonprofit sector, he was. He worked as a seasonal and full-time ranger for the National Park Service and was a firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service. Those jobs would kick off a 28-year career in conservation work including positions at Trout Unlimited, the Finger Lakes Land Trust and the Monadnock Conservancy in New Hampshire. 

In 2013, Aguirre landed at the Adirondack Council as the conservation director, but left for eight months in 2021 to become the executive director of advocacy policy and science at Scenic Hudson. He returned to the council at the end of 2021 to become deputy director. Aguirre said he had been glad to move back to the Hudson Valley to be closer to family, but he missed the Adirondacks and the issues that had been most important to him professionally. 

“Everything has been a powerful affirmation of why it was the right thing to stay here,” Aguirre said. “I’m very fortunate this is an opportunity to pursue. It’s right in line with where I’m at professionally and personally.”

The state has already drawn on Aguirre’s expertise, appointing him the High Peaks Strategic Planning Advisory Committee to brainstorm management strategies for addressing increasing visitor use. The report the group issued has since spurred management actions and an ongoing study of visitorship to one of the park’s most popular destinations. 

As the new executive director, Aguirre has many issues he hopes to address including expanding the council’s focus outside of the eastern High Peaks and more into western areas of the approximately 6-million-acre park. Affordable housing, broadband and cellular coverage, climate resiliency, recreation management and wildlife conservation are all on his agenda. He hopes for a more parkwide and holistic approach.

He also hopes to join more conversations and turn around the narrative that “advocacy groups are somehow divorced from what it means to be in the communities,” Aguirre added. “I live here. Our staff lives here. We are a part of these communities. The things we’re advocating for are the things that are most pressing.”

Aguirre is also a founding member of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative, a branch of the Adirondack North Country Association focused on making the park “a more welcoming and inclusive place.” Aguirre’s father is Mexican and Roman Catholic. His mother is Jewish and from the Bronx. The family made frequent trips to California to visit relatives. 

“I often think of myself as biracial, bicoastal, bi-religious and identify as Hispanic with Jewish roots,” Aguirre said. “For me, having done this for almost 30 years, there’s still not enough where we have leaders in organizations, in agencies, where they can speak to the unique backgrounds, cultural experiences, world views.”

Aguirre could recall just one mentor in his over two decades of experience who was a person of color. 

“I’m not an expert on diversity,” Aguirre said. “I’m just an expert on being diverse.”

Hatfield said Aguirre “is eminently qualified as a professional but also brings a unique worldview and diverse background to the work that will serve the Council and the Adirondacks in important ways in the years to come.”

She said the council “values new and emerging voices of leadership and empowering people of different backgrounds and world views.” In 2021, the council hired Aaron Mair to lead its Forever Adirondacks campaign. The first Black president of the Sierra Club, Mair has become a prominent voice in the environmental justice movement and has spoken at a number of diversity conferences. Aguirre has spoken at those as well.

“The Adirondack Park is a national treasure,” Hatfield said. “We are working hard to ensure that this special place is safe, welcoming, and inclusive for all New Yorkers, locals and visitors alike.” 

Tiffany Rea-Fisher, director of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative, said Aguirre’s “breadth of knowledge, experience, understanding and love of this place” are assets for the council. She is also encouraged that the next generation will see his hire and think, “If you can see it, you can be it.” It’s a strong signal, she said, that the “council is open if you have the experience.”

Aguirre replaces Janeway, who announced in February that he would step down from his post by Sept. 15. John Sheehan, communications director for the council, said Janeway, 60, left sooner since Aguirre is already immersed in the organization. Janeway was the council’s executive director for more than a decade.  A significant influence in Albany, the council is approaching its 50th anniversary in 2025 with a staff of 21 and a budget of more than $3 million.

“There is no one I would rather pass the baton to,” Janeway said, adding he is taking the summer off before planning his next move. He continues to help the council as needed, he said.

“The Council has been incredibly successful over the past decade under Willie Janeway,” Aguirre said. “I am excited to continue that tradition and the hard work necessary to protect the wild places of the Adirondack Park while finding new ways to foster vibrant communities across the North Country.”