Hale keeps his focus on achieving success

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Edwin Hale Sr. has tunnel vision.

He focuses on success.

As chairman and chief executive officer of Baltimore’s 1st Mariner Bank, owner of the Baltimore Blast indoor soccer team, founder and leading member of the Maryland Business Council and chairman of the board of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, Hale is a guru of the “activist” business model — speak your mind, fear nothing and take a chance.

After he ditched his U.S. Air Force blues in 1968, Hale worked his way through the corporate structure of Atco Trailer Rentals. He started out as a clerk and worked his way up to vice president before launching his own trucking company, Port East.

With that company running smoothly, he parlayed his business smarts into Hale Containers, a privately held trucking and shipping company based in Baltimore.

Today, Hale’s behemoth 1st Mariner Bank building stands tall on South Clinton Street, near where a 10-by-55-foot trailer stood as headquarters for his trucking and shipping firm. His move into the banking sector began in 1991, when he led a group in a proxy battle to gain control of the old Bank of Baltimore.

“I went from being a trucking guy to being a banker overnight,” Hale said. “It was a religious experience.”

One thing led to another during the turbulent banking days of the 1990s, and the Bank of Baltimore eventually melded into today’s Wachovia Bank.

“It was not a happy day,” Hale said of the day when the Bank of Baltimore was sold to the first of a few corporate interests. But part of the deal to sell the bank was that Hale not be prevented from starting another bank, which he did 11 years ago.

“I felt comfortable being chairman of a bank,” Hale said. “And I knew doing a local bank would work.”

Today, his 16th-floor office on the shores of Inner Harbor East overlooks downtown Baltimore, where the signs of the banking time are easily seen — Bank of America, M&T Bank and Sun Trust offices are visible among the high rises.

“That’s the best view,” he said.

His view also includes a vision for the decaying industrial terminals surrounding the 1st Mariner Bank building. He plans 503 houses and apartments, as well as commercial and retail space in the Canton Crossing development.

“Ed Hale demonstrates what an individual business man can do and bring to a community with a lot of enthusiasm and community interest,” said Joan Hatfield, president and chief executive officer of the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce and Small Business Resource Center.

EDWIN HALE SR.

» First job: Kitchen boy at a camp for rich kids.

» Education/credentials: Essex Community College and American International College, Springfield, Mass.

» Best job perk: My own hours, which are many.

» Daily e-mails received: Minus all the spam e-mails, approximately 120 e-mails daily.

» Daily voice mails received: My staff knows that all calls should be answered, so someone is always available to answer the phone.

» Essential Web sites: Quicken, for stock portfolio tracking.

» Career objective: Keep working until I’m carried out on my shield.

» Favorite gadget: My Benelli 12-gauge shotgun.

» Hometown: Edgemere

» Birth date: Nov. 15, 1946

» Original aspiration: To become a doctor

» Sports/hobbies: Soccer, tennis, football, hunting and fishing

kcarson@baltimoreexaminer.com

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