Elder Robert D. Hales was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April 1994. He had begun his service as a General Authority nearly twenty years earlier, in 1975, as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and later as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and as Presiding Bishop. He had previously served in a variety of Church leadership positions, including president of the England London Mission and first counselor in the Sunday School general presidency.

Elder Hales grew up in New York City and spent most of his summers with relatives in Utah. He is a graduate of the University of Utah and holds a master of business administration degree from Harvard. Before his call to full-time Church service, he had a distinguished business career, filling executive positions with several major national companies.

He and his wife, Mary Elene Crandall Hales, are the parents of two sons.