Linda Singh Concludes Tenure as TU's Leader-in-Residence

Linda Singh

When asked how she defines leadership, Linda Singh doesn’t hesitate: It’s a quality, not a position or a destination.

Those aren’t empty words. Singh’s journey through her 38-year career with the Maryland National Guard and her recently concluded two-year tenure as TU’s inaugural leader-in-residence embodies that philosophy.

She enlisted in the National Guard in 1981 but took medical leave for several years. During that time, she worked a variety of jobs—McDonald’s, a department store, temp jobs—before she returned to the reserves where she stayed for six years before returning to the Guard full time.

A turning point for her was when she rose through the organizational chart at a job with a defense contractor as a reservist. With each role, her experience and confidence grew. Singh earned a business degree and followed the advice of a first sergeant who suggested she enroll in Officer Candidate School.

After receiving her commission in 1991, she was deployed to Kosovo and did a combat tour to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. 

Singh was named the 29th adjutant general of the Maryland National Guard on Jan. 21, 2015—the first Black woman to hold the position. She commanded more than 5,500 soldiers and airmen and more than 1,000 full-time federal and state employees who responded to emergencies and disasters. Singh advised Gov. Larry Hogan and oversaw the state’s efforts to become one of the National Guard’s cutting-edge cybersecurity leaders.

“Sometimes we have to put it all on the line for people we believe in,” Singh says. “The things that I believed in over my career, I knew because of leaders that came before me. When you believed in your people, you put it all on the line. That truly is what I founded my leadership as adjutant general on.”

She retired in 2019 as a highly decorated officer with a new doctorate in organizational psychology. Singh began looking for a role that was affiliated with a university and put her in a position to impact others.

When she began her job as TU’s leader-in-residence in 2020, her understanding and practice of leadership was almost immediately tested.

The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly shifted her plans from in-person events and seminars to focusing on a strategic examination of leadership development opportunities across campus.

“My thought was, ‘How can we bring synergy to leadership programs and events across campus and tie that to the culture? How do we make those competencies part of the culture not just for students but for everyone?’” she says.

Singh’s leadership journey has evolved even further over the last two years, as she focused on how to prepare students for life after graduation. “That’s probably been the biggest growth point to say, ‘Pandemic or no pandemic, I’ve been through worse things.’ So how do we keep a level of faith, confidence and being relentless about how we’re going to come out of this?” she says.

Singh is now going to center her efforts on her consulting business, Kaleidoscope Affect, but she intends to remain a Tiger. TU, she says, is “always going to have a place in my heart.”

“As she has done at every stop in her distinguished career, Linda Singh leaves Towson University a better place for her presence,” President Kim Schatzel says. “As our inaugural
leader-in-residence, General Singh contributed greatly to TU’s innovative approach to leadership development.”