Making an Impact: Doug Trout

by Chuck Cascio, author and former South Lakes teacher

Doug Trout

Whether commenting about growing up in Reston or his work as CEO of DRiWaterstone Human Capital, there is often a chuckle in Doug Trout's stories. The 1989 South Lakes High School graduate speaks with humor, but his stories also reveal the experiences and values that have shaped his life.

Doug now lives in Charlottesville, but remains deeply attached to Reston. "Reston did not influence any major decisions in my life. It probably influenced all of them," he says. "I moved to Reston with my mom, brother and sister in the middle of sixth grade because my parents had gotten divorced. We lived on Golf Course Drive. There were tons of kids, and I walked to school and kissed a girl. I'm still friends with countless people from the neighborhood and elsewhere in Reston. I am in touch with them regularly."

Doug built on those bonds throughout his childhood and his years at South Lakes. He often credits his mother, Sally McKeown, with shaping the trajectory of his career.

"My mom has been the most important influence on me, my brother and my sister. When we came to Reston, my mom did not have a college degree and taught Jazzercise while she went back to school at George Mason University to earn her teaching degree. Mom told me at a very young age to always keep going north, to always build. You can't have it all at once, so the idea of building a career was important."

With that in mind, Doug became captivated by politics during President Ronald Reagan's administration.

"I went from being terrified of nuclear war to seeing the USSR disintegrate," he says. His interest in politics led him to believe he would someday "be the next great senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia."

After graduating from James Madison University with a major in political science and a minor in economics, Doug began working for nonprofits, including "a very cool organization called Presidential Classroom that focused on bringing high school students to Washington, D.C. for a one-week stay, where they visited various sites and met with a range of organizations."

When Doug's wife, Kelly Titus Trout, also a South Lakes graduate, was accepted into graduate school at the University of Virginia, they moved to Charlottesville. Doug took a job at UVA, where he worked for 20 years.

"I was able to work with some great institutions that allowed me to see what helping other people really looked like, and I loved it," he says.

While in Charlottesville, Doug also participated in the Sorensen Institute, which he describes as "essentially a yearlong training ground for people who want to run for office. Most people leave that program and run. It had the opposite effect for me. Instead, I decided I wanted nothing to do with elected politics. My mind went from government, 'no,' to nonprofits and higher ed, 'yes.' I'm still a nerd about politics, but I don't consider myself an advocate. I'm not overly passionate about one particular issue."

Over the years, Doug has become increasingly aware of what he considers one of his defining characteristics.

"Everything for me centers around people."

At DRiWaterstone, Doug focuses on helping organizations maximize their impact through nonprofit talent management and culture transformation. He works "only in the nonprofit, foundation and association space, which in the D.C. area is ground zero for them. There are too many organizations suffering significant funding cuts. We can't help all of them, but our goal is to help more of them."

Reflecting on life in Reston, especially his mother's influence, Doug says, "You can't get by on charm alone. Being successful at work, in your marriage and as a parent requires discipline and the ability to do things you don't always want to do. At the same time, you'd be amazed at how much easier life is if you treat people well, laugh at yourself constantly, don't think you're better than anyone else, and let other people take credit when things go right while you take the blame when things go wrong."

Doug also points to the lifelong friendships he formed in Reston and the many experiences that shaped him, sometimes in unexpected ways.

"We played until it was dark, and then my mom would ring a cowbell, and that was the signal that we needed to come home. I got decent at golf, sneaking onto the third hole at Reston National (then called Reston South) at dusk. While in elementary school at Terraset, my friend and I thought it would be cool to flood the bathroom ... um, it was not. So not everything was perfect, but my mom was always incredibly positive without being phony, and the Reston community embraced her. I cannot imagine having a cooler growing-up experience."

Looking ahead to the social impact he hopes his work will continue to make, Doug still has one seemingly unusual goal that may become the subject of a future story.

"I still would love to open my own lawn mower repair shop!"