Doug Duncan – CEO, Leadership Greater Washington and Former Politician

Our Town with host Andy Ockershausen - Homegrown History

Doug Duncan on depression and his message to others who also suffer from it ~ "To me, it was just telling the truth, that I had this illness. Part of it was from my family history and knowing that. If I had cancer, if I had something else, you just tell people what you have and you've got to deal with it and take care of it. . . . I got treatment and I got better. That's my message to people around the region." Doug Duncan - CEO, Leadership Greater Washington in-studio interview A Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen. This is Our Town. I'm so delighted because when I see our guest around town I always call him the governor, because he ran for governor and in my estimation ... I didn't live in the county but I'd have voted for him. I thought he'd have been a great governor. He thinks I'm teasing him but really, Doug Duncan, you would have been a great governor. I'm sure of that because you were a great county executive in Montgomery County until 2006. You've been in public service for much of your adult life. Almost a local boy, just born across the border, of course. You went to St. John's College High School, attended Columbia University, and like a lot of my good Catholic friends, you're one of 13 children. He's currently reinvented himself as the CEO of a great organization called Leadership Greater Washington. Doug Duncan, welcome to Our Town. Doug Duncan: Andy, thank you very much. Great to be here, and you're one of the founders of Leadership Greater Washington, so thank you for that 31 years ago. A Ockershausen: It was a great experience when it started out, Doug. A lot of people don't know what this thing was going to be. Now I think it's almost unbelievable. The first year we had to recruit. We never did fill up the whole class, and people were wondering what it was going to be. It turned out to be exceptional and a wonderful thing for Our Town. Doug Duncan: We've got close to 1,700 people who've been through the program over the 30 years. It's a great network of people who really are committed to the region and advancing the interest of the Washington region. A Ockershausen: The leadership ability of that group is stunning to me every year. I mean, it gets bigger and bigger, and Doug, you've been a big part of the growth of leadership, but that started because you're so well known around Our Town. Even though you weren't born in Our Town, you are a part of Our Town because your family was. I think that is such a great story, that your dad was in the United States Army at one time. Doug Duncan - Family History Doug Duncan: My father was in the Marines. My grandfather was in the U.S. Army. My mother's side is native Washington, back for years. I think one of them goes back to the Daughters of the American Revolution, then part of her family, the Irish, came over. They lived in DC for many years. I think my mother's father ... My mother's grandfather had a pub, or a bar, in Georgetown. A Ockershausen: Wow, they're a big part of Our Town. Doug Duncan: They've been there. They moved to Glen Echo for a while and then moved back into the District. That was around the turn of the century, the 1800, 1900 century. Then my father ... His father was in the Army. He was with the common engineers in World War I and stayed over after the war and ran an American cemetery outside of Paris, married a French woman, had three kids, and ... A Ockershausen: One of them being your dad. Doug Duncan: One of them is my father. He actually had ... He had mental health issues. Tried to commit suicide actually in 1932. They sent him here to St. Elizabeths. He stayed here at St. Elizabeths for 20-something years until he died in 1955. My grandmother and the kids stayed in France until the Nazis took over. So, my father came here as a Junior in High School. Went to St. Johns for two years. Didn't speak any English. The great thing is that his nickname in high school was "Frenchie", which is sort of ...