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 Q1 2021, featuring the nomination statements from their peers!
Brian Leavitt – Facility Service Manager, East Coast Division
“Brian Leavitt, the Facilities Manager for the Northeast, is one of the most outstanding people and employee I have ever met. He is extremely hard working and very good at his job by evidence in his results. I have worked with Brian for almost four years now, and I am amazed at his continued PASSION for the business and for the people he works with. Brian is always available when needed for emergencies, to provide guidance, or to just have a friendly work conversation. He is quick to answer questions and supports the District Managers and Stores when managing vendors to get projects done. I cannot say enough about Brian and what he does for this company. He completely encompasses all of our Core Values and more. He is a great friend and colleague.”
Celes Talauega – Call Center Team Lead, National Sales Center
“Celes has been with Extra Space Storage for just over seven years, with roles in the field and SSC. And for the last nine months, Celes has served as a Team Lead at the National Solutions Center. Managing 17 agents on our NSC sales team, Celes genuinely cares about each agent and wants them to succeed. Recently, when an agent was at home and challenged with a sickness, Celes dropped off a care package for the agent. The coaching approach Celes uses is also tailored to each agent’s personality and needs, making the most effective use of the coaching time she spends with the team. Celes is wise, encouraging, empathetic, super-friendly, and charismatic. You can’t say hello to Celes without immediately smiling; her positivity is infectious. Each of these attributes exemplifies how Celes is both passionate about Extra Space Storage and her team; Celes not only strives for excellence herself, Celes inspires her team to do the same.”
JR Messina – District Manager, Whitham Division
“JR has went above and beyond to everyone of us in his district! He is absolutely amazing and so easy and nice to work with! To have as a boss to all of us! Even when one store or two is struggling, he has us all work together to help those stores out! He is a very hard worker and has recently gave me some new goals in the company to move up! I couldn’t be happier with this guy as our District manager! Thanks, JR!”
Richard Brooks – District Manager, Agnello Division
“The first quarter was a challenging one in Texas—we experienced an historic storm that caused large losses and damage at many of our properties. Richard Brooks deserves our Mission Accomplished award for his actions above and beyond to take care of our employees and stores. While the roads were difficult to drive on, Richard personally visited his stores to check on every employee that was able to come to work, delivering supplies and water and making sure that they were safe during power outages. Two of Richard’s properties had significant flooding from damaged fire suppression, and he was constantly available to manage the cleanup, remediation, repairs, and make sure the team had what they needed to take care of the customers. Our customers trust us to keep their items safe, and Richard’s actions show that we care for, appreciate, and inform our customers even during difficult times. In Q1, Richard also mentored his DTL into promotion to a district manager in training, making sure that employee growth and development was not put on pause because of the storm.”
Sam Dunham – IT Operations Support Technician II, Store Support Center
“Sam is one whose efforts are hidden in the background. He is constantly working to gather information for various teams, helps coworkers with computer and connectivity issues, as well as run various projects in the IT department. I got to work with him recently on solving some gate access issues as we introduce new cloud-based access platforms. He is not one to turn down a challenge. I come to him regularly with questions or will need help, and he seems to always point me in the right direction or fix the issue.”
George Bishop – District Manager, Hammer Division
“George has been a great inspiration in division 9690. The performance of his district is contagious and has given other District Managers including myself a level of excellence and consistency worth striving for. If ever given the chance to travel with George, please take him up on the opportunity. He is respectful and patient when coaching others and able to create an instant connection with those he visits. He is detail oriented and able to see the big picture connecting several data points to understand an opportunity before coming to conclusions. George has traveled to my district multiple times to ensure that I received as much support as possible in my new role as a District Manager, and it has made all the difference in my success.”
Lu Scofield – Brand Marketing Specialist, Store Support Center
“You can trust Lu to provide an excellent customer experience for any internal or external customer we work with. She gets work done on time, on budget, and on point with customer’s expectations. Everyone on her team loves working with her as she elevates all of our work and keeps us on track. Outside teams often express appreciation for the care and attention to detail she puts into every project. She’s able to balance multiple projects at once and complete all of them effectively, efficiently and exceed expectations. She is overall AMAZING! We are lucky to have her!”
Warren Horsley – Commercial Property Administrator, Store Support Center
“This fall, Warren will celebrate 19 years at Extra Space Storage. He spent the majority of that time working in Operations and then joined the Asset Management team last January—just as the economic downturn from COVID-19 was taking effect. He now manages over 170,000 square feet of commercial space in Los Angeles and also assists other site managers throughout the country with commercial lease negotiations and renewals. COVID-19 hit retail landlords and tenants especially hard, and most of them continue to suffer severely. Because of Warren’s efforts, his properties flourished despite the pandemic. Occupancy at his properties is up, net rentable income has increased 13%, and the quality of his tenant mix has improved. This is all due to Warren’s willingness to go above and beyond. He doubled down with tenacity on his leasing efforts, never missing a single opportunity to show vacant space and lease it up. He is also bold during negotiations and is not afraid to be firm and push rate increases to the max. Well done, Warren!”
Nominations for EXTRAordinary Employee of the Quarter for Q2 2021 have recently closed, and the winners will be announced soon. Check back for more from Extra Space Storage!