Hall & Associates, Ltd

Deborah A. Hall-Kayler

Founder

Deborah A. Hall-Kayler, founder and president of Hall & Associates, Ltd.  In 2007 she was named the Chair of the National Association of Executive Recruiters and continues to hold that title today. H&A is the only firm in the hospitality space that is a member of this organization, which holds its members to a strict rule of integrity and ethics in their practices. Over the past 10 years she has been building relationships with high level executives in the hospitality industry nationally and partnering with them to identify and assess what candidate(s) should be considered for critical leadership positions.

Prior to launching her business in December of 1998, Hall worked for McGettigan Partners in successfully opening their Chicago branch office; prior to that she was the Director of Sales at the Whitehall Hotel in Chicago and prior to that she spent 7 years with Hyatt at the Park Hyatt and the Hyatt Suites.  She started her career at the Mayfair Regent Hotel & Regent International Group.

Membership & Philanthropic involvement: She is the Chair of the National Association of Executive Recruiters, committee  member and speaker for Meeting Professionals International and past speaker and member of Professional Convention Management Association. She is a three plus year member of Greater North Michigan Avenue Association and she has just joined the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association.  Her current philanthropic pursuit is with Global Alliance for Africa in developing their Hospitality & Tourism Vocational Center in Tanzania as well as on the Gala Committee.  She is a Deacon at Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago. She has participated as a fund raiser for various non-for-profit organization such as Deborah’s Place and the American Cancer Society.

Joan Taffe

Associate

Joan Taffe joined Hall & Associates as an Associate in 2007.  In this integral role, Joan has a variety of responsibilities which include performing candidate development and client research, screening all candidates and supporting the firm’s business development initiatives. 

Prior to joining the Hall & Associates team, Joan’s career spanned over 16 years serving in a variety of administrative and management roles within such prominent hotel sales and marketing organizations as Chicago Hilton, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Swissotel, Clarion Barcelo Hotel O’Hare, Four Points by Sheraton Chicago, and Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa. 

Joan received her BA in Marketing from Robert Morris University, Chicago.  She serves as the Advisor to the Diversity Council for Meeting Professional International and was a member of the Society Government Meeting Professionals.  Further, Joan has served as a committee member of the Global Alliance for Africa and has been active within several family-oriented volunteer organizations ranging from the Funeral Directors Wives Group to Treasurer of AAU Summer Basketball League.

 A native of Jamaica, she and her husband, Otto Ali have four sons, and enjoy living in Chicago.

Hall & Associates Advisory Board

Jodie Brown – Principal – Accounting office of Jodie Brown
Raman Chadha – Executive Director – Coleman Entrepreneurship Center at DePaul University
Kevin Hinton – Managing Partner – Hinton & Gruisch
Mark Monaco – Principal – Mark S Monaco Company
Jim Schneider – Senior Partner – Chase-Hunter Group

Hall & Associates, Ltd.
One East Wacker Drive
Suite 2600
Chicago, Illinois  60601

312.578.1650 P
312.994.2011 F

Deborah A. Hall-Kayler, Founder and President

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