Roger Ogden has been active in many civic organizations, including past Chairman of the LSU Board of Supervisors, past president of the Audubon Park Commission, and the chairman of the boards of many other public and non-profit organizations including the International House of Blues Foundation Board and the LSU Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center Board of Advisors and Co-Chairman of the LSU/Tulane Cancer Consortium Board of Advisors.
In connection with his civic work, he has donated his time and talents as the coordinating developer of the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas and Woldenberg Park, a world-renowned $100 million riverfront park, and the $30 million restoration of the historic Louisiana Supreme Court Building, located in the heart of New Orleans' French Quarter. He is currently chairing the design and construction committee for the development of the new $60 million business school complex at LSU.
Currently, Ogden serves on the board for the New Orleans Aviation Board, Greater New Orleans Biosciences Economic Development District, GNO Inc., the Business Council of New Orleans, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Ogden is also the founding chairman of the Southeast Super Region Committee, a collaboration between GNO Inc. and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber.
Committed to the arts, Ogden donated over 1,000 pieces of art from his personal collection to form the initial holdings for the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in partnership with the University of New Orleans. Goldring Hall, the first phase of the Ogden Museum, opened in August 2003. The museum has led to a renaissance of this historically important area of the city and is nationally recognized as the largest and most comprehensive collection of Southern art. Ogden has served on the Board of Directors of the Contemporary Arts Center, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the New Orleans Ballet, the Louisiana State Museum, LSU Museum of Art, the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), and the Louisiana Governor's Mansion Foundation.
Ogden is currently a member of the executive committee of the Louisiana's Flagship Coalition, a group of leaders supporting LSU as a flagship university. Ogden also has endowed a deanship for the LSU Honors College, named the "Roger H. Ogden Deanship," in honor of his son.