Dr. George Hagerty

Dr. George J. Hagerty has spent more than a decade transforming Beacon College into a national model for educating students with learning differences—and his own life story is part of what drives that mission. As a teenager, Hagerty contracted a retinal disease that left him legally blind, an experience that shapes how deeply he identifies with the students Beacon serves.

A Massachusetts native, Hagerty earned his bachelor’s degree from Stonehill College and both a master’s and doctorate from Harvard University. His career began in federal service, where he rose to compliance chief for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs before spending 14 years as president of Franklin Pierce University. He later led an international education consulting firm across four continents. At the national level, he chaired the NCAA President’s Council and was chair of the board of directors at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

Hagerty has overseen extraordinary growth since becoming Beacon’s president in 2013, expanding enrollment from 187 students to more than 500, launching study abroad programs in Tuscany and Tokyo, and modernizing the Leesburg campus with new academic and residential facilities. He has also built career pathways for neurodivergent graduates by forging corporate partnerships with Dell Technologies, Disney and Johnson & Johnson.

His leadership has earned him the National Leadership Award from the National Council on Disabilities, the Fitzwater Medal for Leadership in Public Communication, and multiple lifetime achievement honors.

Hagerty recently announced he will retire at the end of the 2026-’27 academic year, closing a 14-year tenure that redefined what higher education can look like for students who learn differently.