Roger Hale

“I thought it would be an interesting new era, so I agreed to come back [when the new director asked],” he says. “I was glad to.”

That was in 1991.

He didn’t plan to stay long—but he just couldn’t leave. He served on the capital committee to raise $92 million and then became board chair during the most significant expansion project ($67.5 million) in the Walker’s history. It was “very complex and demanding,” he says.

At the Walker, Hale has played an on-again, off-again role for four decades, but always with rewards. “The Walker Art Center really challenges one’s brains and perceptions to try new things in the arts,” he says. “It’s stimulating, mind-stretching, and always on the front edge.”

Hale mostly raised funds, a bear he enjoys wrestling. “You have to figure out the best possible way to do it,” he says. “But many people recognize the Walker as a great cultural asset and want to support it. It’s satisfying to get to where we arrived on April 15 [the new building’s opening party].”

Hale is poised to finally leave the Walker board in September, but he has other goals. He’s chairing the Ploughshares Fund, an organization that began during the Cold War and supports resisting reliance on weapons of mass destruction. “I’m going to spend time on it as long as I keep going,” he says. “It’s the most important issue of our time, by far. As someone once said to me, ‘Unfortunately, we’re in a growth industry.’ It’s so complex, so esoteric.”

Hale has also volunteered with Public Radio International, which distributes content through the public radio system. He volunteered for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, chaired the Governor’s Workforce Development Council, and is cochairing the capital drive for Plymouth Congregational Church.

“I want to help as much as anyone else, but I enjoy it too, and it’s been helpful to my career and now,” he says. “I believe very strongly in civic commitment. Minnesota has a greater degree of participation than most states, and it’s one of the reasons that the quality of life here is pretty good.”