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HOSPITALITY INVESTMENT EXECUTIVE Leslie Hale has won the third annual Castell Award instituted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association Foundation, a statement said. The award honors a female trailblazer in the hospitality investment arena who paves the way for more women to rise to the top. The award will be presented at the Lodging Conference on Sept. 20. Hale is the president and CEO of RLJ Lodging Trust and vice chair of the AHLA board of directors, the statement said. She also serves on the board of directors of Macy's, Inc. and Delta Airlines Inc. The female leader is a Howard University Trustee and is a board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's Baltimore Branch. "Leslie is the ideal candidate for this important award," said Rosanna Maietta, president and CEO, AHLA Foundation. "Over the years, her dedication to advancing the hospitality industry sets the gold standard for leadership, she has inspired men and women in our industry, and we are thrilled to honor her leadership."

IT'S BEEN A tough year for women in the hospitality industry, but progress has been made as more female executives took leadership roles, according to an annual report from the Castell Project, a nonprofit focused on promoting women in the industry. The next challenge, according to the project, is getting more women in hospitality education programs. Castell Project founder and chairwoman Peggy Berg released the 2022 Women in Hospitality Industry Leadership report during the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles earlier this week. During the conference, Berg received the ISHC Pioneer Award for her work in the industry, and she told a story during her acceptance speech that encapsulates where women are coming from in the industry. When she was in college, Berg said, the Equal Employment Opportunity Act lifted the restrictions on women working. So, she walked into a large firm looking for a job. "The partner in charge of the office, Jerry, he took one look at me and said 'Well, this will never work.' And then because of the EEOA, he said, 'I will give you a job if you promise not to get pregnant for two years,'" Berg said. "Jerry thought this was impossible. I thought Jerry didn't understand the law. Mostly I thought, if that's the barrier to success, the best vertical I have to cross, I can run this company. And a few years later, 140 men found themselves with a female partner."

THE U.S. HOTEL industry is "beginning to get back to getting back to it," according to a speaker at The Lodging Conference 2022, held Sept. 19-22 in Phoenix. More than 2,500 people attended the event at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort, continuing the industry's return to normalcy after more than two years of pandemic. Talk of the economy during the conference was mostly positive, though concerns about the labor shortage remained high as well as some apprehension about overall economic stability. Women were strongly represented on the stage with the awarding of the annual Castell Award. AAHOA's leadership team also contributed to the conference conversation.