At Extra Space Storage, we believe our greatest asset is our employees. From the people who work in our National Sales Center to the managers operating our self storage facilities across the nation, the team behind Extra Space Storage is what makes our company better every single day.
Each quarter, we give out the EXTRAordinary Employee of the Quarter award. These aren’t given to people who just do their jobs. They’re awarded to those who go above and beyond in demonstrating our core values, and the nominations are submitted anonymously by other employees, team leaders, or entire departments.
Below are the EXTRAordinary winners from Q4 2019 featuring the nomination statements from their peers!
Bonnie Sweeney – District Manager, Walker Division
“I am nominating Bonnie Sweeney for the EXTRAordinary Award because she exemplifies Extra Space Storage core values! Bonnie is an amazing leader that encompasses integrity in her day-to-day actions. She sets a high standard of excellence for her team and consistently displays passion and leads in teamwork at any site she visits. She consistently goes above and beyond for her team! She enables innovation in her district by giving us the ability to come up with creative solutions. I appreciate her honesty and admire her, not only as a District Manager, but more so as a person.”
David Brenkman – Data Management Senior Engineer, Store Support Center
“Over the last quarter, David has brought a higher level of excellence to the BI team and he has stepped up as the lead engineer to provide quality data on time for our internal customers. The challenge of combining data from our legacy systems with new Extra Space Storage systems led to many new data failures in the data warehouse ETL system. David was tasked with fixing bugs that occurred during the nightly runs, and he worked all hours of the night and weekend to correct these issues. The senior level engineer on the team left the company, and while the BI team has been down an employee, David revisited the way our daily process works, and he implemented new validations and fault tolerances to the processes to ensure quality. David was able to provide a better product that will allow for all store employees to have their KPI data as soon as business starts each morning. David showed a dedication and commitment to his team and to Extra Space Storage by taking charge of these important business processes. Not to mention, during this same time frame, David continued to work on various data modeling projects for the company. David learned a programming language, Python, to accommodate a new business need. David is an expert in his field and an asset to the company.”
Josh Lemon – National Procurement Director, Store Support Center
“Josh has consistently been a great advocate for his employees. He has been leading from the front. He jumps in and gets his hands dirty like the rest of us. He showing his employees that he will not ask them to do anything that he will not do anything he wouldn’t do himself. He enjoys teaching and imparting his knowledge of purchasing/procurement. He is usually the first one in the office for the operations department and the last one to leave. The pace he sets is astonishing and a great example for his employees to emulate. One of the best supervisors I have had.”
Josh Ludington – Facility Service Manager, West Coast
“Josh has been a leader at driving initiatives to eliminate CPP claims at his stores. Since beginning his tenure at Extra Space Storage, Josh has been passionate about improving the customer experience by making enhancements to his sites that ensure the safety of the customer’s goods. He works with store employees, district managers, and the risk department to create a unique solution for each property and drive results. Josh also helped establish a new relationship with a pest control provider, which has a unique approach for pest control in the self storage industry. This method is currently being tested at a number of sites, and early results make us optimistic that the approach will help us better eliminate rodent issues at our sites.”
Lisa Smith – Accounting Senior Clerk, Store Support Center
“Lisa exemplified the company values of excellence and teamwork last quarter. While she routinely goes beyond what is expected in providing service to her clients, she reached a new level last quarter. Lisa takes ownership in getting bank information and statements to the Property Accountants so that the accounting process functions smoothly. Extra Space Storage added over 200 bank accounts during the year; 34% of those accounts were added in the last quarter. She didn’t miss a step in making sure everyone received what they needed, despite the increase in bank accounts. She is a great team player.”
Martha McCulley – Operations Specialist, Store Support Center
“I am pleased to recommend Martha McCulley for the EXTRAordinary Award in Q4. Martha was involved with a very difficult customer case and handled it as a true professional. She always asked me the right questions and supported our team throughout, even when the customer acted inappropriately. Martha was diligent and treated the customer, the employee, and myself with a great deal of respect during more than two months of conversations with the same customer. Ultimately, Martha remained firm on Extra Space Storage standards and principles, and the situation was resolved without any type of litigation. I am very grateful to Martha for her engagement, commitment to excellence, and she is one of the reasons that Extra Space Storage is a great place to work.”
Raymond Huntley – District Manager, Verboncoeur Division
“Starting a new job is always a scary thing. From day one, Raymond has been so positive and amazing! I am pleased to say that Raymond was the nice, kind, and encouraging voice on the other side of the line to advise me that I was qualified to join the Extra Space Storage team. Our district was in the process of a change, as the current manager transferred to the SSC. Raymond jumped in to cover our district, as well as his own district. I had applied with Extra Space Storage and was discouraged thinking I did not get the job. However, I received a call from Raymond, and he offered me a position to join this amazing company. From that point of my contact with Raymond, it was always uplifting and informative. Storage is new to me, and I am so thankful that I got to start with him as my District Manager. There are so many new elements for me in this business and this company, Raymond made the transition very smooth. My experience could have been very different, but Raymond’s leadership made it an amazing and easy transition. I hope Raymond is acknowledged for all that he does for Extra Space Storage!”
Nominations for EXTRAordinary Employee of the Quarter for Q1 2020 have recently closed, and the winners will be announced soon. Check back for more from Extra Space Storage!