What’s Next for Extra Space Storage with Joe Margolis and Noah Springer

In episode 14 of the Inside Extra Space Storage podcast, McKall Morris sits down with outgoing President & CEO Joe Margolis and incoming President & CEO Noah Springer on the same day that Extra Space Storage announced its executive leadership transition.

Margolis and Springer look back on leading through COVID, launching the bridge loan program, and handling the Life Storage acquisition that helped grow the company from roughly 1,000 properties to more than 4,400. They also look ahead to what changes (and what doesn't) under new leadership, open up about the emotional side of a CEO transition, and share what nearly 25 years of shared company culture have taught them both.

Chapters & Transcript

00:00 — About Inside Extra Space Storage Podcast

Springer: And the question that we always ask is, "What keeps you at Extra Space?" And it is always the culture. People love the culture here. And what is that culture? It is how we treat one another. It is how we push, how we compete, and how we act. It is how we use the values, know the values, and live the values. Those things are really important.

Morris: On Inside Extra Space Storage, we sit down with the experts building, operating, and scaling Extra Space Storage to not only be the world's largest self storage operator, but one of the most trusted names in the industry. If you care about where Extra Space and the self storage industry is headed, you're in the right place.

00:43 — Inside the Next Extra Space Storage CEO Announcement

Morris: Welcome to Inside Extra Space Storage, the podcast where normally I am interviewing one Extra Space leader. But today, we have Joe Margolis, our current CEO, and Noah Springer, our incoming CEO, sitting down together. We recorded this on the day of the announcement of Joe's retirement and the executive leadership transition, so we're excited to have them in conversation and share that conversation with you.

Morris: Hello, welcome. We are here on the day of the executive transition announcement. We started this morning at 4 a.m., and I know both of you were involved. We are at the end of the day, but we decided to get together in a room and have a conversation about how this is all going.

01:33 — Noah Springer on an Exciting & Humbling Announcement

Springer: It's exciting. I've been at Extra Space for over 20 years. To get to this spot is exciting. It's humbling, but it is exciting.

Springer: It's fun to be in a career for 20 years, be in different roles with different people, have the opportunity to work with different CEOs, and make it to this spot and have this announcement. It's been fun. I'm excited.

Springer: My mom might be more excited than I am. She was up early this morning calling me, telling me, 'I'm checking the news.' I told my mom, 'I don't think the news outlets are picking this up,' but she has been very excited, too.

Morris: Shout out, Mom.

Morris: Joe, how are you feeling today with this announcement?

02:13 — Joe Margolis on Mixed Emotions for Retirement

Margolis: Mixed emotions, I'd say. On the one hand, things are about to get a whole lot easier for me in my life, and that's exciting. But on the other hand, I've really enjoyed this job and mostly the people I've worked with, the intellectual and personal interactions we have every day, and the challenges we've all attacked and overcome together.

Margolis: I think I'll miss that, but it's totally the right time for the next stage of life.

02:43 — 12 Years of Working Together

Morris: Noah, Joe has been your boss for the past 12 years. Can you tell us what it's been like working together and how you two work together?

Springer: Let's go back a little. Number one, Joe has been with us since 1998 in some capacity, as one of the first joint venture partners we had. We had 12 properties when Joe became a partner, essentially with Prudential. He was on our board for a long time. He came in as our Chief Investment Officer and eventually became our CEO. To see that progression is impressive.

Springer: The things he accomplished while he was CEO are impressive. We got through COVID together, with Joe at the helm during COVID. He started the bridge loan program. We did the Life Storage deal and the transition of that. We went from 1,000 properties to over 4,400 stores.

Springer: There are a lot of things Joe accomplished, and it's impressive to see. I've been lucky in my career to work with three different CEOs inside the same company and really have an education that comes from Ken Woolley to Spencer Kirk to Joe Margolis. Not many people have a chance to do that. To be able to work with Joe in this capacity for the last 12 years has really been a special treat.

04:08 — Why Margolis Says Springer Is Ready

Morris: Joe, you've worked closely with Noah. Why do you think he's ready to take on this role?

Margolis: I have worked closely with Noah for a long time, and I've seen him do a lot of things really, really well, both existing things and new challenges that just come up. When things got too hard or too complicated for me, I knew who the right person to call was to throw at the problem.

Margolis: Noah started our third-party management program, now the largest, fastest-growing, most profitable in the industry. He's worked with joint ventures, asset management, construction and facilities, human resources, operations, and lots and lots of special projects. So I have absolute confidence that Noah is well prepared for this job and is going to do a great job.

04:58 — Springer's 10-Year Vision for Extra Space

Morris: For both of you, but we'll start with Noah, how are you looking at the future of Extra Space when you look at the next 10 years?

Springer: It's an exciting time. There are a lot of things that are exciting. Number one, we're in a great spot. The company has done really, really well under Joe. It continues to do well. There are no major changes we need to look at.

Springer: Take our executive team, for example. There aren't going to be major changes with that. The big change you'll see is that third-party management and asset management will roll up to Zach Dickens. He's well prepared. Zach and I have worked together for 20 years, and he'll be able to handle that with no problem.

Springer: Overall, the people are very strong. The balance sheet is in a good position. We've been able to grow a lot of things. I think the thing we'll look at most going forward is our properties and what we can do at the stores to push same-store NOI.

Springer: Joe has done a great job growing our store count and increasing the size of our company. We're a $32 billion company now, and with the number of properties we have, the biggest lever we can use is the store. Same-store performance is the best thing we can push on to really increase the value of our company.

Springer: That said, what does that come back to? The culture of our company and the people in our company. We need to make sure we continue to focus on people and protect the culture that we have, and that will continue well into the future.

06:23 — Margolis on Scale, Data, & People

Morris: Joe, how are you looking at the future of Extra Space? You'll obviously still be on as an adviser on the board. You'll still be connected. How are you looking at it?

Margolis: I think the future is extraordinarily bright for a number of reasons. We're in an industry where scale matters, and we have the most scale and the most data. We have the systems to take advantage of that data and that scale, and we have the best people.

Margolis: We've always emphasized people, and from a brand-new assistant store manager up to the executive team with all their tenure, we just have the best people. They are working hard, following our values, and delivering results. We're set up to succeed in the future.

07:08 — Margolis's Retirement Plans

Morris: I love that. Talking about the future, we haven't publicly said much about it yet. What are your retirement plans? What are you looking at personally?

Margolis: My immediate plans are to spend time with my wife and my family, do a little traveling, and try to decompress for a little while. After that, I'm on a board of another public company, and I'll continue to do that. I'll continue to be available and help Noah and Extra Space.

Margolis: My family is talking about doing some charitable work together, which is exciting to me in a number of ways. I'm sure I'll find other things to do. I'm excited to become a better golfer, a better fisherman, and maybe sleep a little later in the morning.

Morris: You know what? I'm excited for you to do those things, too. That sounds really nice.

Margolis: There's a lot of improvement there.

07:59 — Protecting Extra Space Culture & Values

Morris: Both of you have talked about our company culture and the people, and you're both clearly passionate about that. Noah, how are you going to approach our company culture and our company values as CEO?

Springer: Since I was named President in January, I've been out as much as I possibly can to be in the field. I've met with well over 150 district managers, over half of our divisional vice presidents, and been to a lot of properties and stores. The question we always ask is, what keeps you at Extra Space? And it's always the culture. People love the culture here.

Springer: And what is that culture? It's how we treat one another. It's how we push. It's how we compete. It's how we act. It's how we use the values, know the values, and live the values. Those things are really important. That's the thing that has held true throughout my tenure at Extra Space. We continue to have that culture and live those values. That cannot change. It needs to keep going.

09:06 — What Makes the Extra Space Team Special

Morris: Joe, you've talked about our team, from assistant managers all the way up to executives. What has stood out to you over the past 10 years as CEO when you look at our team? What makes Extra Space special from your perspective?

Margolis: I think it is that word: team. People are in this for each other. No one is trying to get promoted by climbing over the next person's dead body. One thing I find is that at Extra Space, if you have a question, you can call someone you've never met or talked to before and say, 'Hey, I have a question. I think you'd be the person to help me with this.' And people will take the time to help you.

Margolis: Everyone is trying to do the best for the team and not for themselves individually. That's a rare thing in corporate America.

Morris: It's been such a special team. Thank you both for your work creating that team and that culture, maintaining it, and leading it. With that, I'm going to end our quick update and let you both go on announcement day. Thank you so much for your time.

About the Host & Guests

Joseph D. Margolis, Chief Executive Officer

Joe Margolis has served as Chief Executive Officer since January 1, 2017. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Extra Space Storage. Margolis was also Senior Managing Director and Partner at Penzance Properties from 2011 to July 2015. Prior to these roles, he was a co-founding partner of Arsenal Real Estate Funds, held senior positions at Prudential Real Estate Investors and The Prudential Insurance Company of America, and was a real estate associate at the law firm of Nutter, McClennen & Fish. Margolis is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia University School of Law.

Noah Springer, President of Extra Space Storage

Noah Springer has served as President of Extra Space Storage since January 2026. He joined Extra Space in 2006 after several years in the banking industry. His initial responsibility was acquiring third-party managed contracts from the newly acquired Storage USA portfolio. Springer later helped create Management Plus, Extra Space Storage's third-party management platform, which has since become the sector's largest. He has also been responsible for joint ventures, the human resources department, and other strategic initiatives. Springer holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance and an MBA from the University of Utah.

McKall Morris, Director of Corporate Communications

McKall Morris is the Corporate Communications Director at Extra Space Storage. She joined the company in March 2019 after several years in the airline industry. Since joining Extra Space, Morris has played a key role in advancing internal and external communications initiatives, helping shape how the company is represented across all channels. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Utah.

To learn more about Extra Space Storage, visit our investor site, or explore the next step in your career by viewing current job openings. This transcript was auto-generated and edited, including paraphrasing for readability. For the full conversation and exact quotes, listen to the complete episode on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify.