The first in her family to attend college, Hale found a passion for finance while attending Howard University in DC, where she would go on to graduate summa cum laude (Today, she serves as a university Trustee).

“I absolutely, unequivocally fell in love with the concept of being able to take a dollar and make it into two,” Hale explained.

She followed this passion to Harvard Business School, where she earned her MBA and was a Goldman Sachs and Toigo Fellow.

Early in her career, she gained valuable investment banking experience at Goldman Sachs and learned to navigate the complex world of corporate transactions across an array of industries at G.E. In the process, Hale also gained valuable communications experience, learning to—in her words—“communicate a billion dollar transaction on one sheet of paper.”

Climbing the Executive Ladder

Eventually, her desire to migrate from advising to the inside of a company's decision-making curve brought her to RLJ, where she’s made her way up the executive track over the better part of the past two decades.

She became the company’s chief financial officer in 2007 and chief operating officer in 2016. She was appointed to her current president and chief executive officer post in 2018.

Today, Hale also serves on the board of Delta Airlines and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Baltimore Branch.

Promoting Diversity and Opportunities

As noted by the Washington Post in a 2018 article, Hale’s promotion to CEO in 2018 was historic. This promotion made her the first chief executive of a publicly traded real estate investment trust.

“I am humbled and honored to be the first, but I have no interest in being the only,” Hale said in an interview with the Post’s Thomas Heath, who was in the audience for the March 19 discussion.

Still, Marchick pointed out, there remains a stark reality today.

“Six years later, you’re still the only,” he noted. “And actually, there are fewer black female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies today than there were six years ago. Why is that?” Marchick posed.

“There’s clearly a pipeline issue,” Hale responded. “Getting enough people in the pipeline to be able to ascend.”

What does that mean on a practical level?

“Everybody contributes to the success of an organization. But not every role in an organization will lead to you being able to be CEO,” Hale explained. “Oftentimes, women and minorities are encouraged to take support roles. These are important roles, but they’re not necessarily on the path that will lead you to the c-suite.”

For RLJ’s part, the company has found success in cultivating a diverse staff, starting at the top.Women make up 50 percent of the company’s workforce. Minorities do as well, Hale noted. Half of its board of directors consists of minorities, she said. 

She said it’s a result of organic growth combined with deliberate efforts to put the right people in the position to succeed and ascend.

“People often say, what do women and minorities need to be successful? They don’t need anything differently than what [JP Morgan Chase CEO] Jamie Dimon got,” Hale told the audience.

“I think, and I believe, it is genuinely that simple," she said.

Of course, being a CEO isn’t easy, as Hale pointed out to the audience and the small group of students she met with during an intimate roundtable discussion ahead of the main event, which included members of the student body overseeing Kogod’s Student Managed Investment Fund, which has close to $900,000 in assets and allows students to gain practical investment experience.

“It is extraordinarily lonely,” she cautioned about her post. Internally, people watch everything you do; they watch every word you use. If you use an ‘and’ or a ‘but,’ it means something to them. The people component is something you have to learn on the job. It’s not something people can tell you about.”