Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr.

Hotel owner and operator Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr., was born on August 23, 1963 in Front Royal, Virginia to Thomas Baltimore, Sr. and Geraldine Baltimore. Baltimore received his B.S. degree in finance from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia in 1985 and his M.B.A. degree from the University of Virginia Darden Business School in 1991 in Charlottesville.

Following graduate school, Baltimore began his career in hospitality with the Marriott Corporation, where he worked in various financial and operational roles from 1991 to 1995. He was later promoted to vice president of business development for the company’s lodging division, helping expand Marriott’s hotel portfolio through acquisitions and management contracts. From 1995 to 1996, he served as vice president of business development for Host Marriott Services Corporation. Baltimore then joined Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1996 as vice president of development, playing a key role in identifying and acquiring hotel assets across North America. In 2000, Baltimore founded the private equity firm RLJ Development, LLC with Robert L. Johnson in Bethesda, Maryland, where he served as president for eleven years and managed more than $3 billion in assets and a portfolio exceeding 100 hotels. In 2011, he became president and chief executive officer of the RLJ Lodging Trust, one of the nation’s largest public real estate investment trusts. He was in 2016 appointed chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Park Hotels and Resorts, a Fortune 1000 company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia that became the second-largest publicly traded lodging REIT in the United States.

Baltimore has been active in both the corporate and civic communities including serving on the board of directors of AutoNation, Inc.; the Duke Realty Corporation; MedStar Health; Park Hotels and Resorts (2016); the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (2018); the Real Estate Roundtable (2018); the American Hotel & Lodging Association Executive Committee (2020); the American Express Company (2021); the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce Foundation (2022); and Comcast, Inc. (2023). He also served as a director at Prudential Financial, Inc. for fifteen years and held the role of lead independent director for three years before stepping down in 2023.

Throughout his career, Baltimore has received numerous awards and honors, including the IREFAC Award from the American Hotel & Lodging Association in 2015, the Award for Excellence and Inspiration from Hunter College in 2021, the Charles C. Abbot Award from his alma mater, the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia, in 2020, and the Raven Award from the Raven Society at the University of Virginia in 2022. He was inducted into the Washington Business Hall of Fame in 2023.

Baltimore and his wife, Hillary D. Baltimore live in Potomac, Maryland. They have two children.

Thomas J. Baltimore Jr. was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 29, 2023.