Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr.

The oldest of five children, Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr., was born in 1963 at the top of the Shenandoah Valley in Front Royal, Virginia. His parents were high school sweethearts who attended a segregated high school. “My mother was only 17 when she gave birth to me and my father was 18,” Baltimore says. “Shortly after I was born, we moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., where my father worked in retail sales and as a car salesman for a small dealership.”

Baltimore’s father was the son of a Baptist preacher. “My father was very religious and he raised our family to be anchored in faith,” he says. “He was a visionary, highly energetic, a captivating speaker, and incredibly extroverted. My mother was the opposite. She was a bookworm, a dreamer, and an introvert. While my mother did not attend college, she was incredibly well-read and read books frequently to ‘visit places I can’t afford to see in person.’ Her biggest dream was that all five of her children would graduate college.”

When Baltimore’s father was 33, he felt a calling to start a church. Giving up his job to pursue his vision put a tremendous financial strain on the household. “My father went from making a modest salary to virtually no income. We relied on my mother for that. She worked a night shift at an after- hours call center for doctors, leaving for work at 10 p.m. and returning home in time to make breakfast and get her five kids off to school. Those were very challenging years. We were forced to move seven times from one rental to the next. One rental property was 1,250 square feet for a family of seven and two bathrooms. Often, we couldn’t pay our bills, but my father took his calling very seriously. Twenty-five years later, his hard work and dedication resulted in a highly successful church with a congregation of nearly 4,000 members before he passed away at age 58.”

Baltimore was 15, and the oldest child, when his father started his church. He took on the responsibility for his younger siblings, making sure they did their homework and got to bed on time. “I’ve always thought our situation made me grow up faster,” he says. “In a lot of ways, my parents and I grew up together. I didn’t like living in poverty, but I was blessed to grow up in a loving home that was grounded in faith and hard work.”

From the time he was 10 years old, Baltimore had jobs. He worked for an uncle that had a cleaning business and also worked as a dishwasher and delivered newspapers. In high school, he worked in retail and landscaping. He was a good student who took his studies seriously. “I understood my circumstances,” he says. “I wanted out of poverty and I was committed to doing all I could to improve my situation. I didn’t have time to waste with nonsense, so I was not a big drinker and I didn’t do drugs. I was driven to live differently and change my circumstances.”

An able student athlete, Baltimore was offered a basketball scholarship (partial grant in aid plus student loans) to a small school in Cleveland, Ohio— Baldwin Wallace College. He was also accepted to the University of Virginia (UVA). “I knew I wasn’t good enough to be a professional basketball player, but I wanted the experience of playing on a college team.”

Baltimore spent one year in Cleveland and came to the realization that he was a much better student than basketball player. He had kept in contact with Sylvia Terry, the associate dean of admissions at UVA, and she helped him transition back to UVA. Soon, he realized this pivot was one of the best decisions he had ever made. Not only did he receive an excellent education at UVA (McIntire School of Commerce), but he also learned more about himself. “I had scholarships, grants, and loans to pay my tuition,” he says. “One of my work study jobs was cleaning up and washing dishes in the cafeteria, which meant I cleaned up after my classmates. That was a growth experience for me. I couldn’t just go to class and hang out with friends. It’s hard to thrive when you are in survival mode. I lived with the fear that a bill would come due that I wouldn’t be able to pay. I was just trying to complete my education as fast as I could so that I could get a job that would pay for my independence.”

When Baltimore was 26 and beginning graduate business school at the UVA Darden School of Business, his mother (age 43) was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and later passed when she was 53. “My mother lived long enough to see all her children graduate from college. She was always my hero. She worked so hard and dreamed so big for us. When I was at UVA, she sent me a letter of encouragement every week. She would enclose $5 or $10, whatever cash she could spare. She always knew that education is the escalator—the way out of poverty. Unfortunately, she didn’t live long enough to see my ultimate success, but for her our family achieved the American dream.”

After earning his degree in accounting from UVA in 1985, Baltimore went to work for Price Waterhouse. A few years later, he transitioned to the hospitality industry when he joined the Marriott Corporation. While there, he returned to UVA and earned his MBA from the UVA Darden School of Business. “Grad school was a whole different experience for me,” he says. “I had a partial scholarship and some modest savings, so I was no longer scared about receiving a surprise bill. I had a car, which I never had in my college days. It felt like I could breathe.”

In 2000, Baltimore co-founded RLJ Development (a privately held hotel investment company), where he guided its significant growth, including the acquisition of 19 hotels for $630 million and later the acquisition of 100 hotels in a portfolio deal valued at $1.7 billion in 2006. In 2011, he successfully merged RLJ Development with its two affiliated private equity funds to launch RLJ Lodging Trust via an IPO, which grew to 125 hotels across 21 states, with an enterprise value exceeding $4 billion.

Since 2016, he has served as chairman and chief executive officer of Park Hotels & Resorts, a lodging real estate investment trust (REIT) with 40 hotels in prime U.S. markets and approximately $8 billion in assets. The pandemic from 2020 to 2022 was the most difficult time of Baltimore’s career. “We had to shut down hotels per government mandates in many major markets within the U.S., and our stock plummeted. We were hemorrhaging cash and virtually no revenue. I knew not to panic. Instead, I waived my salary and got to work. Throughout those trying times, my core executive team stayed together, and we endured. I had experienced significant adversity in my life, so I knew how to manage the situation.”

Looking back, Baltimore says, “I benefited a lot from mentors during my career. Mentors lead by example and offer access, advice, and exposure. But some of my mentors became incredible sponsors. These people take things to the next level. These are the colleagues and leaders who see the potential and talent in a mentee and can catapult a young professional from early-stage assignments to managing teams to executive leadership, and more. They’re gatekeepers of opportunity within organizations. And if perseverance is a secret sauce to pushing ahead, then sponsors are a secret sauce to building and keeping talent in house.”

Throughout his life, Baltimore has followed his guiding principles, which he calls the Three Ps. “First is prayer, which I believe grounds and centers you in life. Second is preparation because you have to be ready when opportunities come your way. Third is perseverance, which I believe is the secret sauce of life. We all face adversity and setbacks, but it’s how you react to those times that’s important. Throughout the pandemic, I didn’t panic—so my team didn’t panic. We worked hard and persevered through those very difficult years.”

Baltimore thinks of himself as a servant leader. “I try to push people out of their comfort zone and then watch them succeed where they didn’t think they could. For me, success is knowing I’ve done my best. I don’t want any regrets at the end of my life, so I still work six days a week and strive to achieve something each day. Ultimately, I want the peace of mind to know I have honored my late parents and done my best to take care of my family.”

When addressing young people, Baltimore emphasizes the importance of education. “It is the cornerstone and the escalator that provides the upward mobility to another level. With a good education as your foundation anything is possible. You must build your tool kit, and part of that is to be a great team player. Be the one to raise your hand and ask what you can do to help the team. Develop confidence and always be willing to bet on yourself.”

Baltimore accepts his Horatio Alger Award with humility and says, “I have been fortunate enough to receive a number of accolades, but this is the most prestigious because of the incredible work the organization does to impact deserving young people. The values of the Association align with my own by shining a light on the importance of education and helping others.”