How Extra Space Storage Develops Leaders From District Manager to DVP With George Anastacio

In episode 15 of the Inside Extra Space Storage podcast, host McKall Morris sits down with George Anastacio, Division Vice President, who recently relocated from Houston to Charlotte. The conversation traces Anastacio's path from retail to self storage, and eventually into DVP leadership—including navigating the 2020 pandemic and the $15 billion Life Storage merger.

Anastacio shares about the district manager hiring process, what makes Extra Space's culture distinct, and how leaders can create space for their teams to fail, learn, and grow. He also reflects on adapting to a new market and team and what's kept him in the self storage industry for over a decade.

Transcript & Chapters

00:00 — About Inside Extra Space Storage Podcast

Anastacio: Don’t be afraid to fail. And when you do, just own it. I learned very early on that when I made mistakes, I would try to skirt around them or make excuses. That is not what leaders want. That is not what your supervisor wants. Just own it. You’re going to make mistakes. Be okay with that. Learn from it and ask yourself, “What did I learn from those mistakes?”

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.

00:38 — Meet George Anastacio, Division Vice President at Extra Space

Morris: Welcome to Inside Extra Space Storage, a podcast where we put a mic in front of some of our great leaders and hear about leadership, the company, and self storage. It’s a fun time. Today, we’re so lucky to have George with us. George Anastacio is a division vice president for us, currently based in Charlotte and previously based in Houston. He’s been with the company 12 years and has been leading a division since 2020. Welcome to the show.

Anastacio: Thanks. Looking forward to it.

Morris: How is Charlotte? You’ve moved there just in the last few months after some realignments. How has it been going?

Anastacio: It’s been great. The family is settling in well. The area is absolutely gorgeous. I’m getting more time to explore and seeing similar geography to what we have here in Salt Lake. Texas was great, but it was pretty flat. Not having to deal with triple digits all the time has been really nice.

Morris: You’re looking forward to your summer.

Anastacio: I’m looking forward to four seasons, not preheat and heat in Texas. Only two seasons.

01:41 — How GPS Training Supports New District Managers

Morris: It’s so nice that you’re here in Salt Lake because you are part of our GPS training, which stands for Guiding People to Success. It’s a training where new district managers from across the company come together for a week. Can you tell us what GPS training looks like for a district manager and how it’s going this week?

Anastacio: It somewhat feels like drinking from a fire hose because there is a lot going on. These are district managers who have been with us for about six to nine months. We’ve evolved district manager training, so this is helping them become more efficient and giving them more time they can spend in the field.

Anastacio: They get a wide variety of training. Matt does snapshots. We had financials today. They do a facility walk with facilities and a division vice president to see what that looks like from that lens. They meet with legal and a bunch of different departments, and they also get to network with the folks in Salt Lake and build relationships within their group.

Morris: It’s a great opportunity. Six to nine months into your job as a district manager, you have your feet under you just barely, and now you’re ready to learn a whole bunch.

Anastacio: And you realize you’re not alone. There are 18 other newer district managers experiencing the same thing. You can say, “Okay, wait a minute. I’m not doing this alone. I have peers I can reach out to.”

Morris: I love the opportunities the company has to bring people together and make sure we feel collaborative, even though we have 4,000-plus stores spread across 43 states. There are opportunities to feel disconnected, but I think our leaders do a great job of trying to connect.

Anastacio: Our district managers are such brand ambassadors for our culture. To have this experience and go back to their districts and say, “Let me tell you how amazing Salt Lake and the SSC are,” that’s another win that doesn’t always get counted.

Morris: It builds trust across the whole organization.

03:21 — From Retail to Self Storage

Morris: You started your career as a district manager for us. Is that correct?

Anastacio: Yeah.

Morris: Tell me what it was like being a district manager at Extra Space. How did you become a district manager at Extra Space, and what was that like?

Anastacio: I grew up in retail. I’ve been in retail most of my life through a wide variety of companies, from eyewear to currency, and then I happened to fall into self storage. I worked for the folks with the orange doors for about three and a half years and had a few friends who came to work at Extra Space. They kept talking about this great culture and work-life balance.

Anastacio: It had been a little challenging in the previous roles, and I finally came on board as a district manager in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area. About six months in, I was like, “Wow, this is pretty amazing.” The work-life balance was great, and it was really about people. You weren’t just a number. You actually had a voice and could interact and build relationships. It was pretty amazing.

Morris: It is a special company culture. I really appreciate what everyone before me built here that we get to step into.

Anastacio: One hundred percent. I totally agree.

04:24 — Moving From District Manager to Division Vice President

Morris: Thinking about your career path, you were a district manager, you had retail background, and you had some self storage background. How did you move into a division vice president role? Was that something you were intentionally aiming for? Was that something you got into a development program for?

Anastacio: I would say all of the above. The advice I would give anybody internally is that the company does a great job of creating opportunities and platforms. It’s up to us to drive those. Speak up. If you feel like you want more, then speak up. Your supervisor is ready to give you more.

Anastacio: I was very fortunate. I’ve had great mentors in my life. I have a great mentor who is now my boss, Mike Pontillo. Having someone like that recognize there was something there helped a lot. I got on an individual development plan and had great exposure. I traveled with great leaders in the organization, including Matt, Rashede, and Alex.

Anastacio: I think that was the driving factor. You learn a lot of skill sets in being able to drive the business, but those relationship pieces and exposure opportunities are just as valuable.

Morris: I love that.

05:23 — What a Division Vice President Does

Morris: Now you’re a division vice president. You have a lot of people who report to you, and one layer down you have a lot of stores that report to you. What does a day in the life of a division vice president look like?

Anastacio: It depends on the day. At the end of the day, it is always about driving performance, but doing it through our culture and through our people. It’s assessing our team and making sure they feel supported. It’s looking at how you can elevate them, how you can make them more efficient, and how you can give them time back so they can be out in the field building relationships, hiring the right people, and driving performance.

Anastacio: It’s also being able to take a step back, zoom out to 36,000 feet, and then simplify it for our district managers at ground level so they can go have those conversations. That’s what I love most about being a division vice president. It gives you a lot of flexibility, but you still get to interact with store employees and see that growth. It’s probably the most rewarding thing I’ve been able to do in my career. It’s challenging and not easy, but it has a lot of rewards.

06:30 — Leading Through Growth and the Life Storage Integration

Morris: Talk about challenging. You became a division vice president during 2020, which was a time when any business was pivoting, changing, and trying to find policies that made people feel safe while still allowing the business to operate. Outside of that challenge, what is another challenge you took on as a division vice president that felt big to bite into and ended up being a success?

Anastacio: I was a division vice president during the Life Storage merger and that transition. It was a $15 billion merger where our company grew 50% in one day. That was challenging and exciting. Being in Texas, there was a lot of that portfolio there. I had to visit the assets, visit the people, and be part of that onboarding process.

Anastacio: It was a lot. At one point, I had 210 stores. That was a challenge. I also took on a new team of Life Storage district managers who were going through that same change, and I was trying to give them comfort. It was, “Everything is going to be okay. It’s going to feel like a fire hose, but you’re not alone.”

Anastacio: That was challenging. The ongoing challenge, which is fantastic, is that we continue to have so much growth. That’s exciting. It’s challenging at times because there is so much impact to it, but it’s extremely rewarding. I’ll take this over what friends in other industries are experiencing.

Morris: When we complain about growing so much and having so many opportunities, it’s like, come on, read the room. We can’t be complaining about that. It’s awesome.

Anastacio: I try not to share those things with my friends in traditional retail. They ask how things are going, and I say, “Things are great.” I’ll leave it at that.

08:15 — Building Teams That Can Handle Change

Morris: That growth creates a lot of challenges. In particular, it creates a lot of change. We have to reorganize structurally in different regions, divisions, and districts, and there are always new stores coming on. How do you build a team that can handle change? What traits or abilities do you look for in a team member to say, “They’re ready for it”?

Anastacio: That’s a great question. We just launched our new district manager traits, and I think those are key: empowerment, calm, and accountability. It’s finding people who can remain calm through storms. Most importantly, as the leader looking for those traits, you have to remain calm during those storms as well.

Anastacio: It’s also having good, natural conversations during the process. That’s what I appreciate most about our interview process at the district manager level. It’s extensive, but it’s important. A lot of it is conversation, and candidates get to see the culture.

09:16 — Inside the District Manager Interview Process

Morris: Wait, pause. Walk me through what the district manager interview process looks like. I don’t think we’ve had anyone explain that.

Anastacio: On average, it’s about seven interviews. There is the initial conversation with the recruiter, who helps identify solid candidates through referrals and other portals. Then it comes to you for a 30-minute, high-level phone conversation. From there, you want to get your senior district managers involved for a touchpoint. Your division learning manager does a touchpoint as well.

Anastacio: Then you bring candidates back in for a face-to-face, and we do another gut check with a peer division vice president. Once we gather all that information, we ask them to complete an assignment, like a market assessment. Once we have all of that, they go to the senior vice president for final signoff. It is pretty extensive.

Anastacio: I always ask candidates, “You’ve gone through this process so much. My hope is that you got to experience our culture.” We can talk about the culture, but the only way you’re going to experience it is through those conversations. Everybody I’ve talked to in the interview process says it has been consistent through every part of it. They get to experience our culture.

Morris: And it allows us to find district managers who will be excellent leaders for our people at our stores.

Anastacio: It’s an investment on both sides. They get to see how committed we are through the process, and they have to make that decision just as much as we have to make that decision.

10:39 — Extra Space Culture and Having a Voice

Morris: We talk about the Extra Space culture, and you talked about candidates being able to feel the culture. What is the culture to you? How would you describe it?

Anastacio: The best way I can simplify it, and I think Joe does a great job with this, is speak up and have a voice. Your voice really matters. Anytime I visit stores, I ask, “What can we do to help eliminate noise? What can we do better?” Take the time to do our engagement surveys. That feedback is extremely valuable.

Anastacio: A simple example is the uniform. It has evolved over the years. Those shirts are great, and they happened because people spoke up. That’s a small example, but it shows the importance of having a voice.

Morris: It’s everyone having a voice and leaders really listening. I don’t think anyone has described the culture quite that way yet, so that’s a fun way to simplify it.

Anastacio: People are obvious, right? Everybody you interact with can feel the people piece. I think what really happens is our leaders do a great job of exemplifying it, and it naturally rolls downhill. If we didn’t have executives who exemplified it, I think it would be hard. Through the amount of change we’ve had, the one thing that has been constant is that the people steering the ship are excellent at what they do, and they really live and breathe our culture.

Morris: It’s an authentic culture because everyone is living it.

Anastacio: Absolutely.

Morris: It’s not just words on the wall. It’s tangible things we do day to day.

Anastacio: One hundred percent. Our new district managers at GPS just got to experience a breakfast with the executives. That doesn’t happen everywhere. I’ve worked in many different places, and that doesn’t happen everywhere. That’s another example of how we lead through culture.

12:19 — Staying Connected to Store Teams

Morris: We have such an open-door policy. Leaders visit employees and listen all the time. As a division vice president, how often are you at a store in a week?

Anastacio: I wish I could be there more. That’s probably the challenge of making the transition from district manager to division vice president. There is a little more office time. You may put on a little more weight because you’re not out walking properties and getting 10,000 steps every day like you used to.

Anastacio: But when I do get out there, I absolutely love it. I try to see as many people as I possibly can and try to stick to the schedule so we don’t disappoint anybody. I remember being a district manager and traveling with my division vice president, and if we couldn’t get to that last store, the store managers and employees were upset because they had worked so hard and wanted to show it off. My commitment is to see as many stores as I can and try to stick to the schedule. It’s not easy. My district managers have to manage me.

13:11 — Creating a Great Customer Experience

Morris: Speaking of our store employees and the customer-facing side, what do you think makes for a great customer experience at Extra Space?

Anastacio: I learned a long time ago that it doesn’t cost anything to be nice. Our store employees deal with a lot. Sometimes it’s like they are part-time bartender, part-time psychologist. They get the full story. If you can just be nice, you don’t know what someone has in their emotional backpack or what’s going on in their life. Just be nice.

Morris: And our store employees are some of the nicest.

Anastacio: They really are amazing. There is a lot we ask them to do, and they are responsible for a lot. We have to be nice to them, and we encourage them to be nice to our customers. When they have those tough scenarios, we have to step in and help protect our employees as well as the customer.

Morris: I love that.

14:02 — Career Advice to Own Your Mistakes

Morris: What career advice would you give to someone early in their career, maybe someone fresh out of college who is looking to advance and hoping to have a career like yours someday?

Anastacio: Don’t be afraid to fail. And when you do, just own it. I learned very early on that when I made mistakes, I would try to skirt around them or make excuses. That is not what leaders want. That is not what your supervisor wants. Just own it.

Anastacio: You’re going to make mistakes. Be okay with that. Learn from it and ask yourself, “What did I learn from those mistakes?” Don’t go make the same mistake repeatedly. That’s the problem. Learn from your mistakes. Don’t be afraid to take risks. Don’t operate in a bubble. Reach out. Build relationships.

Morris: It is scary to be out on the limb for the first time when you’re starting somewhere new or you have a new idea. Not being too afraid to fail really helps.

Anastacio: One hundred percent. I have kids, and they’re going to make mistakes all the time. It’s what you do after that that really helps define you.

15:14 — Coaching Teams Through Failure

Morris: That’s how you learn. I’m sure you see it with your team quite a bit, especially with newer employees. They’re going to make a mistake in their learning process. How do you as a leader show that it’s okay?

Anastacio: I just ask, “What did you learn from it? What would you do differently? Would you do anything differently?” Then I ask, “What did you hope the outcome was going to be? Here was the outcome. Is there anything different you could have done to get to the desired outcome?”

Anastacio: It’s an open conversation. It’s very easy for us as leaders to tell somebody what to do. But if you can empower them to make decisions, allow them to fail, and be there as a guide and coach to lift them up, you’re going to build a much stronger team.

15:58 — Building Trust With a New Division

Morris: You just had the experience of leaving the team you built in Houston and moving to a team that was already established. That would feel stressful to me as a leader because you’re coming into a new group. What was your approach?

Anastacio: It was tough. My team in Houston was fantastic when I was there, and I know they’re great now. I know Ted Glenn, the new division vice president there, has them in great hands.

Anastacio: For me, Will Mann, who is now the senior vice president in the Central, used to have this market and did a really great job setting us up for success. I came in and let them get to know who I am as a leader.

Morris: You came in with a lot of trust already that the team was good to start.

Anastacio: Yes. I encouraged them to reach out to my Houston team. I have nothing to hide. I’m pretty transparent and easygoing. I genuinely care about people. I think they’ve gotten to know me a little more and gotten to know my family a little more. That breaks down some barriers.

Anastacio: I’m also learning. I’m going to learn from them. We’re all going to make mistakes, so let’s just do it together and lift each other up. So far, it’s been great. We had our first real divisional meeting, and we had some good takeaways and bonding time.

17:13 — Comparing Houston and Charlotte Storage Markets

Morris: Operationally, thinking about your two markets, I know it’s still early in Charlotte, but what difference have you noticed? Is there a difference in how self storage is being used in the two markets or how the markets are growing or changing?

Anastacio: Both were similar last year. Texas is a growing market, and I think it continues to grow. The Raleigh and Charlotte area had some great growth, and it’s a little more stable. We can add some smaller pockets here and there. From a geography standpoint, it’s very different. It’s a little more spread out and has different types of areas, but it has been fairly similar.

Morris: You’re not thinking, “Whoa, this is so different. I had no idea.”

Anastacio: No. Self storage is self storage. There are tougher markets in different parts of the country. We had some tougher markets in my last division, and we all experience tougher markets. We also all experience some easier markets. It has been pretty balanced.

18:15 — How Reporting Has Changed Self Storage

Morris: Thinking about self storage, it has shifted over time. Is there anything about self storage now that would surprise you from 12 years ago when you started at Extra Space? Is there anything that feels different or new?

Anastacio: The thing that sticks out most is anytime I talk to newer district managers, I tell them they are very spoiled having Power BI and our reporting system. I remember getting Excel spreadsheets coming from every direction, and the numbers might look a little different. I’d talk to my peers and ask, “What do you do with the numbers?” and it was, “Whatever makes you look better, that’s the number we’re going with.”

Anastacio: The efficiencies alone have absolutely improved at the district manager level. You’re not having to deal with all the extra noise of filtering through all these reports. It’s a one-stop shop in our reporting system, which makes it so much easier.

Morris: The data and reporting are so impressive and so shiny. Some of those dashboards are gorgeous. I shouldn’t be like, “Wow, what a chart,” but wow, what a chart.

Anastacio: Who gets excited over that? Who says self storage isn’t exciting? We’ve gotten so much better at making reports more efficient and easier to use. We continue to evolve. I think that’s probably the most important piece.

Morris: I can’t even imagine what our reports might look like 10 years from now.

Anastacio: Hopefully it’s one-stop shop. It’s color coded, the district manager knows clearly what they need to do, and they can spend more time in the field helping drive the business through relationships.

19:49 — Why Anastacio Stays at Extra Space

Morris: When you think of self storage, what is keeping you here? What is keeping you at Extra Space and in the industry after all these years?

Anastacio: The simplest answer is the people. It really is. To work for a company that continues to grow but stays consistent in its culture is amazing. I get to experience it, and I get to be an ambassador for it, which is fantastic. I get to hire new leaders and see them develop.

Anastacio: It’s the people. I’ve worked in other industries, and you can’t compare it. Our people, our leaders, and our support groups are great. I have great relationships. After I retire, I will still have these relationships with my peers and my friends. I’ve built friendships here. It’s fantastic.

Morris: I love that answer. Thank you for spending your time with us. I know you’re in the middle of training these new district managers and we snuck you in here, but I really appreciate the conversation.

Anastacio: Thanks for the opportunity.

Morris: For those listening, thanks for joining us. If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to find some of our past conversations. We have more coming, so subscribe and join us for more of these. Thank you.

Morris: Thanks for listening to Inside Extra Space Storage. Each episode features conversations with leaders and teams behind one of the most recognizable names in the self storage industry. To connect with today’s guests, reach out to them directly on LinkedIn. And don’t forget to follow the show for more insights inside the industry. Until next time, have a great day and an even better tomorrow.

About the Host and Guest

George Anastacio, Division Vice President

George Anastacio is a Division Vice President at Extra Space Storage, currently based in Charlotte. He joined Extra Space in April 2014 as a District Manager for the Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland area, later advancing to Senior District Manager and then Division Vice President in early 2020. In his role, Anastacio supports district managers and store teams while helping drive performance through culture, leadership development, and strong customer experiences.

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.