The story of our CEO
Genevieve Hanson grew up seeing the gap between who gets access to opportunity and who doesn't. She has spent her career closing it.
A vision that began in high school.
Why does where you start determine so much of what's possible for you?
The concept of H & H Realty Group was born in 2008, after Genevieve Hanson completed her first commercial real estate project in Washington, DC. But the vision began years earlier, when Genevieve was at an all-girls high school.
As a first-generation American from Ghana, Genevieve grew up in subsidized housing while attending private schools, which made the contrast between “haves” and “have-nots” striking and ever-present. Her parents emigrated to Alexandria, Virginia with their three daughters to pursue the American Dream, initially working as a janitor and a convenience store cashier.
Her college application essay outlined how she would use a degree in International Relations to improve the social and economic welfare of people in less developed countries. She carried that promise to the College of William & Mary, and later to an MBA at the University of Chicago.
She then spent two decades learning how cities actually get built — on the private side at Ernst & Young, and the public side at HHS, GSA and the DC Deputy Mayor's Office for Planning and Economic Development — working on landmark projects such as St. Elizabeths East and Federal Triangle South.
That is why H & H is built as two entities on purpose: H & H Development Group, the for-profit developer of record, and Hanson & Hanson Development, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that holds title and reaches funding a for-profit alone can't. It is the business-model version of the promise in that college essay — build something that can compete in the market and still reach the people the market usually leaves out.
Twenty years, $6 billion in assets.
Genevieve has spent 20 years overseeing real estate transactions and assets valued over $6 billion — including planning, entitlements, design, construction and disposition — and 14 years as a strategy and operations consultant performing process re-engineering, building business cases and financial models, and managing organizational change.
- Ernst & YoungStrategy & Transactions Service Line, Corporate Real Estate — Partner/Principal
- U.S. Department of Health & Human ServicesAssociate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Real Estate & Supply Chain, including the Sustainability Program
- U.S. General Services AdministrationPortfolio Management Division — Senior Advisor
- Deputy Mayor's Office for Planning and Economic Development, DCDevelopment Manager
- Computer Science CorporationFederal Consulting Practice, Strategy & Operations — Principal
- Booz Allen HamiltonProcess Engineering Team — Associate
Education
- University of ChicagoMBA in Economics, Finance and Strategy
- College of William & MaryB.A. in International Relations
Associations and awards
Associations
- Trinity HousingBoard President
- Morgan State University, School of Architecture, Planning and Construction ManagementCo-Chair, Strategic Advisory Board
- Urban Land InstituteCommunity Development Council; Management Council, DC Chapter (2023–2024); steering committees for the Council for Real Estate Development and the Women's Leadership Institute
- Commercial Real Estate for Women (CREW) — Washington, DCPresident-Elect, 2023–2024
- Federal Real Property AssociationBoard Member, 2017–2023
- International WELL Building InstituteInvesting for Health Advisory Committee, 2023
- African American Real Estate Professionals DCBoard Member & Vice President, 2013–2015
- Leadership Greater WashingtonBoard Member & Class Representative-elect, 2010–2011
Awards
- Diversity Leader, Women of InfluenceGlobeSt, 2025
- DEI ChampionWashington Business Journal, 2025
- Women Leading Commercial Real Estate — DC, Maryland & VirginiaBisnow, 2024
- Top Ten Women to WatchWashingtonian Magazine, October 2011
Contact
Selected speaking engagements
- Panelist, Congressional testimony on the Future of Work for the Federal Sector — Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, U.S. House of Representatives
- Speaker, State of the Market, CEO Series — District of Columbia Building Industry Association
- Moderator, “Demystifying ESG” — Women's Leadership Institute, Urban Land Institute
- Moderator, Student Housing Summit — Bisnow, Washington, DC
- Moderator, Affordable Housing Summit — Commercial Real Estate for Women, Washington, DC
- Moderator, Economic Outlook for the Metropolitan Washington Region — CRESA Partners, Tysons, VA
- Moderator, State of DC Commercial Real Estate — Commercial Real Estate for Women
- Moderator, Real Estate Portfolio — Veterans Affairs, Federal Real Property Association
- Moderator, Impact of COVID on Federal and Local Real Estate — EY virtual conference
- Speaker, Smart Buildings Operations — IIoT World Smart Cities Day (virtual)
- Speaker, ESG — Global Perspective, Urban Land Institute Hawaii Chapter (virtual)
- Moderator, “How CREW Changed My Life” — Commercial Real Estate for Women at Amazon, Crystal City, VA
- Moderator, Federal Sustainability Progress and Initiatives — Federal Real Property Association
- Speaker, Executive Women in Leadership Panel — Jones Lang LaSalle, Washington, DC
- Moderator, Real Estate Development Opportunities in Wards 7 & 8, Washington, DC
- Speaker & author, case study — Harvard Public Sector Leadership Summit, Harvard College, Cambridge, MA
- Keynote, Federal Triangle South Workshop — Urban Land Institute, Washington, DC
- Keynote, Federal Triangle South Project Industry Day — U.S. GSA, Washington, DC
- Moderator, Public-Private Partnerships — Commercial Real Estate Women National Conference, Oxon Hill, MD
- Speaker, Annual Real Estate Boat Tour — Urban Land Institute, Washington, DC
- Speaker, Ward 8 Town Hall hosted by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington, DC
- Moderator, St. Elizabeths Redevelopment — District of Columbia Building Industry Association
In the press
Invite Genevieve to speak, or start a conversation.
Panels, keynotes, partnerships and advisory engagements.