How Extra Space Storage Runs 4,400+ Stores: COO Matt Herrington on Trust, Talent, and Innovation

In this episode of the Inside Extra Space Storage podcast, host McKall Morris sits down with Matt Herrington, Chief Operating Officer at Extra Space Storage. The conversation traces Herrington’s path from being a district manager in Kansas City to eventually leading Extra Space's operations, facilities, and construction groups as COO.

Herrington talks about how Extra Space creates a consistent customer experience across more than 4,400 properties, and how ideas from the store level make their way up to leadership. He also shares what makes a great assistant manager, store manager, district manager, and divisional vice president—while at the same time reflecting on the mentors who shaped his career.

Transcript & Chapters

00:00 — About Inside Extra Space Storage Podcast

Herrington: I'm super excited about what we've done in the past 20 years, and I could talk about that. I'm more excited about the next 20 years because there's just so much more that is coming. I have a ton of confidence in the team and the organization and the thought process that's here. It's only going to get better, and it's only going to be done faster and better all the time.

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 are headed, you're in the right place.

00:43 — Welcome Matt Herrington, Chief Operating Officer

Morris: Welcome to Inside Extra Space Storage. This is our podcast where we sit down with leaders, have a conversation, and learn a little about storage, Extra Space, and leadership. We're super excited to have Matt Herrington with us. Matt Herrington is the Chief Operating Officer at Extra Space Storage. You've been with the company almost 20 years?

Herrington: Almost 20 years. Nineteen years.

Morris: Well, almost. Congratulations on your 20-year milestone. And you've been the Chief Operating Officer for six years?

Herrington: Six years.

01:17 — From District Manager to Chief Operating Officer

Morris: We'll jump right in. How did you get to Extra Space? What brought you here 20 years ago?

Herrington: I started in storage on April 23, 2007. I was with a different storage company, running a group of stores as a district manager based out of Kansas City. Extra Space Storage came in and offered to manage those properties. They were for Fortress Investment Group, which trades as FIG, and I was fortunate enough to come over in that transaction as Extra Space took those properties. I officially started with Extra Space on June 1, 2009. That's how I started here.

Morris: You came in and then made your way through the operations team, starting as a district manager. You were a division vice president in the Midwest as well.

Herrington: Correct. Do you mind if I just walk you through it?

Morris: Walk me through it. That's easier than me trying to remember.

Herrington: I was in Kansas City as a district manager. Samrat Sondhi was tasked with becoming a division vice president. He moved from revenue management over to division vice president and opened our Chicago market. He interviewed me and asked me to move to Chicago with my family. I was a senior district manager for him until 2013.

In 2013, I became a division vice president and moved from Chicago to Northern California. I had Hawaii, Northern California, the Pacific Northwest, Vegas, and Utah. That was my market for about a year and a half. Then I was offered the senior vice president position for the West Coast. We moved from Northern California to Southern California and were there for five and a half years. I covered everything from Hawaii over to Minnesota, down through Chicago and New Orleans, and back over to Orange County, California. It was an awesome job. I had a lot of fun doing it.

Then I got a call one day from Joe, and I didn't want to not take that call. He asked me to apply for the position and talk to him about it. They offered me the position. I've been here for six years and oversee the operations group, facilities, and construction.

Morris: Your family has moved around a lot for Extra Space. How are they liking Salt Lake? Is this the final move?

Herrington: Yeah, I hope so. My wife's a saint. My kids have been great. I think living in different places, doing different things, and meeting different people is really healthy, and our kids have grown through that. It's actually made our family unit really tight because we moved from Kansas City to Chicago, where there wasn't family. Then we moved from Chicago to Northern California, even farther away from family.

When we got on the flight to Northern California, my wife had just had our third kid. I remember vividly walking through the airport in Oakland. We had packed six bags and two backpacks. My five-year-old was walking in front of us with our three-year-old, and they both had their backpacks. I'm pulling along five or six suitcases, and my wife's carrying the baby. That's all we had for six months. Everything else went into storage and shipping. It's been a great adventure. It's been a lot of fun, and we've been able to see a lot of places. But yes, my wife is a saint.

Morris: You have that image locked in, and you're like, 'These are my people.'

Herrington: That's right.

05:04 — Leading Operations Across 4,400+ Stores

Morris: Extra Space has grown so much in that time. When you think about what the markets looked like, a division vice president took on so much more geography because stores were more spread out. Now we have 4,400-plus stores across more than 40 states. That's a much larger area and a much larger operations team to think about. As the head of the operations team, how do you think about managing such a large team? You have thousands of employees who roll up into your structure alone.

Herrington: It's a lot of employees, a lot of great employees, and it's a real honor to do it. I have four senior vice presidents of operations who report to me and are out in the field. They each have big jobs. They each run more than a thousand properties and have eight or nine really smart people reporting to them, our division vice presidents. There are 25 of those, and we have around 240 district managers spread out across the company, more than 40 states plus D.C., and a lot of exceptional employees at our properties.

As we've grown, our division vice presidents especially used to cover tons of geography. Scale has helped us because now they have more stores they manage, but much tighter geography. When I was a district manager, Gary White, who I look up to, was my division vice president. He was based out of Dallas and covered everywhere. He was in Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, and so many different places over the course of his career. Now we have Megan Hammer in Dallas. She does an amazing job, and she never leaves Dallas.

Morris: There's enough storage. It's very different.

Herrington: Yeah, it is.

07:09 — How Self Storage Operations Have Changed

Morris: Everyone's roles have changed so much in that time. Self storage is still the same basic concept, but the industry has changed a lot. How have you seen the industry change in your 20 years? Is there anything in particular that's interesting in how it's shifted, or anything that's interesting in how much it hasn't?

Herrington: At the end of the day, the buildings are the buildings, and our job is to keep them safe, secure, and as clean as possible for our tenants and customers. That part hasn't changed.

The way we transact and do business, the way we communicate with each other internally, and how we communicate with our customers has only gotten better and much more streamlined, with way less friction. That's been awesome. You're seeing more and more technology at our properties that will help the customer experience. We're trying to put more things in customers' hands that help their experience so they can self-serve as much as possible.

We'll continue to adjust as our customer adjusts. Whatever our customers need, that's where we're going. Our job is to try to skate two to three meters ahead, if we're using a hockey analogy, and make sure we're taking care of customer needs before they become real needs. We talk about that all the time internally. I think our initiatives serve those needs. Thankfully, the industry and the business are very strong. Our customers are great. They give us really good feedback that helps us improve our business, and I don't see that changing.

Morris: We're always finding little ways to innovate and make the experience better. But self storage as an experience is still, 'I need a place for my things. I'm moving. I need this.'

09:09 — Creating a Consistent Customer Experience at Scale

Morris: Talking about customer experience and our scale, how do we create a consistent customer experience when we're dealing with 4,400 properties, spread out across different markets and different leaders? How do we create consistency in what a customer can expect from Extra Space?

Herrington: We have to make sure there's really good information flow from the Store Support Center down through our leaders into the stores. We spend a lot of time talking about that, thinking about it, doing it, getting feedback, and making adjustments. Your communication has to be exceptional.

Our trust in leadership is also important. Our leaders are amazing. We just had 11 vice presidents in the office over the last couple of days, including leaders from facilities and operations. We spent two days talking about exactly those sorts of things: how do we get better, what initiatives are being pushed as an organization, and where we're going strategically? The more aligned, aware, and educated they are, the more I trust them to take the right information down through their district managers and teams.

We're dedicated to that. We constantly travel. I travel a lot. The senior vice presidents travel a lot. Noah travels a lot. It's about communication, being in front of people, talking, and understanding what our customers need and what our employees need to be able to take care of customers. If we do a really good job giving our employees the tools to take care of customers, we're going to have really good outcomes. I feel great about that.

11:24 — How Store Ideas Reach Leadership

Morris: One of the questions I wanted to ask you is when there's something at a store that's not working, or an employee is thinking, 'I know there's a better way to do this. I have an idea,' how does that information get to you? How does it get from a store in Dallas, Texas, to the executive team?

Herrington: Great question. We don't have shy people. We want people to speak up and be honest with us. That starts with making sure you have a lot of trust built through the organization so people feel comfortable saying, 'I don't think this is right,' or, 'I think there's a better way to do this. Will you be open to my idea?'

An employee can bring that up with a district manager, and a district manager can take those great ideas to a division vice president. We have a natural path to get to the right people and then come back and say, 'That's an amazing idea. We should absolutely do that. We should add this feature or make that enhancement.' We have no shortage of ideas. The question is how we get those things done fast.

Morris: How do we prioritize them and get the ones that are going to have the most impact?

Herrington: Exactly. I always want to make sure people feel comfortable telling me what they really think. We have that type of environment, and that's what we're building. It's also something that's really hard to replicate. Companies can talk about that, but I feel very strongly that we have trust through the whole organization, where people feel comfortable speaking up. That can come through a survey, employee engagement surveys, or customer surveys. We pay attention to all of those things. We have to continue to do that, and I'm confident that we will.

Morris: You talk about those official channels, the way up through a district manager or through surveys. I've also seen people bypass that because you're traveling at a store and a store manager says, 'Look at this. We have to do something.' And it gets done. You're right, it is about a culture of trust and knowing that we value everyone's ideas and opinions. We assume good intent and that people want what's best for the company. Give me the feedback.

14:09 — What Makes a Great Operations Leader

Morris: Let's do a quick rapid-fire through some of the different roles in your organization. What makes a great assistant manager at a store?

Herrington: Somebody who has their own batteries, is driven and self-motivated, wants to do more in the organization, doesn't feel like they have a ceiling on themselves, and is ready to learn.

Morris: What makes a great store manager?

Herrington: Somebody who takes responsibility for everything that happens at the property. They don't skirt responsibility as it relates to the customer. They take accountability for the performance of the property. They also understand they're serving a wide range of constituents: the partner who's invested in that property, the district manager who's empowered them to run it, and the division vice president who's going to give feedback at a higher level and hopefully develop them.

Morris: What makes a really great district manager?

Herrington: We talk about our values a lot, and in addition to our values there are three traits I really want them to live. They need to be able to empower their employees, so empowerment is really big. Accountability, 100% accountability for everything that's happening at the property. And a sense of calm, a steady-handed person who can lead through change.

We're constantly changing. We're constantly adding and evolving, and unfortunately sometimes things happen at our properties. We need the voice of reason, somebody who can come in, assume the leadership position, and say, 'Everything's going to be fine. Let's do this, this, and this.' So, empowerment, accountability, and calm.

Morris: Especially in a crisis, having that leader who's level-headed and calm is valuable. What makes a great vice president in the operations department, whether that's a division vice president or a leader in operations or facilities?

Herrington: They have to be able to find leaders who embody those three traits, hire really well, train really well, and coach really well because the effect now goes down through a lot of properties and managers. They're the epicenter for how people feel about the organization and the company.

A lot of times, a division vice president is the highest person in the organization a store manager or assistant manager knows. We need them to be that calming influence and also push people by saying, 'We can do better. What do you think we need to do at this property or in this district to drive better performance?' Division vice president is a really important position with a lot of responsibility. They have to be numerate, good with people, and have really good situational awareness and judgment.

18:19 — Developing Careers From the Store Up

Morris: You have this huge team that rolls up to you, and it's interesting what you can accomplish. There's so much data and operational know-how, but then it's so people-forward too. It's about customer experience, building a strong team, development, and giving people career opportunities.

Herrington: It's a lot. You interviewed Ana Valentin, a senior district manager in Chicago. I actually hired Ana.

Morris: I didn't know that.

Herrington: Ana was an assistant manager we were lucky enough to hire around 2010 or 2011. She was amazing. A division vice president is the person who can come in and say, 'That person you hired is really, really good, and they might not even know how good they are.' We don't put ceilings on people in the organization.

Ana, to her own credit, applied herself, continued to learn, and continued to push herself. She was given more and more challenges and promotions: assistant manager to store manager, store manager to district trainer, district manager in training, then the learning and development route as a division learning manager. She did an exceptional job and came back to operations as a district manager and now a senior district manager. I couldn't be more proud of her and what she's done for herself.

That's also how I think people need to look at our organization. About 30% of our district managers came from our stores. It's the Ana Valentins and the Julie Baukus of the world. Julie Baukus started with us as a store manager in Austin. I remember traveling in that market when I was a senior vice president. We went to the store, and it was beautiful. The store was extremely well kept and all the metrics were in the right spot. We got back in the car and I said, 'How long has this person been with us?' I think it was about six months. I said, 'If you don't do something with her in the next three months, she's gone. She's that talented. You have to figure out what the path forward is for her.'

The district manager and division vice president built the right program around her, with help from learning and development, to grow her career.

Morris: She's in operations support now.

Herrington: Vice President of Operations Support. You should interview her. She's way more interesting than me.

Morris: She's on our short list. We have so many cool examples of that. One of our senior vice presidents of operations, Mike James, started as a store employee and is running an entire region. It's incredible to see the opportunities the operations team can provide, and you put a lot of effort into growing and developing these careers.

21:21 — Innovation in Self Storage Operations

Morris: Let's pivot slightly and talk about innovation at Extra Space. When you think about innovation over your career in operations, what stands out as a great innovation Extra Space has done or a project you're really proud of?

Herrington: I would tell you right now we're doing a ton of innovative things. We have 1,700 kiosks and vestibules currently at our stores, almost 800 of which have happened this year. We'll do another 400 to 500 by the end of the year. That's a ton of coordination and work across the product team, sourcing, facilities, and all the project managers doing the work to decide where these go, how they'll look, and how much they'll cost across more than 40 states plus D.C. It's a lot of logistical work, in addition to being a new, innovative thing we're putting at our properties.

The vast majority of our customers are now using the mobile app. Samrat Sondhi and I talk about this all the time: how do we continue to build enhancements and applications inside this tool that help customers self-serve? There are a bunch of different things we're doing, some of which I don't want to talk about right now.

Morris: Don't spill too much on here.

Herrington: We have exciting stuff. We're always on the innovative cusp. I'm super excited about what we've done in the past 20 years, and I could talk about that. I'm more excited about the next 20 years because there's just so much more coming. I have a ton of confidence in the team, the organization, and the thought process that's here. It's only going to get better, and it's only going to be done faster and better all the time.

Morris: That's fun. There are some cool things in hindsight and some cool challenges we've overcome, but even more runway ahead.

Herrington: Yes.

24:00 — Mentors Who Shaped Herrington’s Career

Morris: We're almost at time, so I'll end with one final question. Can you tell me about a mentor you had and something you've learned from a mentor, or from mentoring here at Extra Space, that you'd want to impart to our audience?

Herrington: Great question. I'd be remiss not to give a shout-out to my parents. My parents were my mentors growing up. I learned humility, hard work, that your word is your bond, and all of those things. That foundationally set me up well. They got that from their parents, and I got to see that with my grandparents. One side were farmers and the other side ranchers. You learn to work, you learn to work early, and not complain about it. I'm fortunate I was able to grow up in that environment and learn that specifically from them.

Inside this organization, I've been blessed to have several different leaders who have been amazing. Starting off, I had Mark Stanke, who was a division vice president for us and then a senior vice president. He was my boss a couple of times. He was amazing in how he talked to people, reached broadly across the spectrum of people, and engaged them. One of the most engaging people I've ever been around. He'd go into a store and knew how to turn it on, but he was genuine and serious about it. He could connect with just about anyone.

Then I had Gary White, who I talked about earlier. Gary taught me the importance of being super detail-oriented, digging in, and taking responsibility for things, not skirting responsibility. He held me accountable, and I'm grateful for that.

Samrat Sondhi was probably one of the most influential people I've ever had in my career. I was a district manager under him, a senior district manager under him, and a division vice president. He was in my role before me. I really look up to Samrat and appreciate how much he poured into me. Anything I wanted to learn, he was an open book. I learned how to think at the next level and how to challenge the status quo. He's a very smart person, and I'm fortunate he's my peer now. I'm super fortunate I was able to work for him for that long.

I reported to Karl for a period of time before he retired. Karl was super detail-oriented, a no-nonsense guy. He told you how it was. I was better because of Karl, even though that was a short amount of time.

I've also had the good fortune of reporting to Joe for a long time. Nobody works harder than Joe. You could send him a message right now and he'll have something back to you in short order, and it'll be well thought through. That breeds confidence in people. He can be a really calming influence because he gives really good direction. I thought I knew hard work, but that guy is always on. I'm very appreciative of Joe.

Now I've had the fortune of working for Noah, and I think he's cut from the exact same cloth. He's very innovative, very forward-thinking, and an exceptional communicator. I've had several mentors. I'd do a disservice to the people who, over my 19 and a half years here, all contributed to this.

Morris: It is impressive to see what we pull from every person who touches us as we develop in our careers and become leaders. There are so many people you can learn different pieces from. Noah was our first episode, and he opened talking about his corn farm. There are these funny little touch points with all of us, the things that connect us. As you're talking about your parents and grandparents, you can see that same ethos of work and how easily connected you two are on that.

Thank you for sharing all that and for talking with us today, giving us an operations rundown, leadership advice, and a lot of credit where credit's due to your incredible team and the people who mentored you along the way. We appreciate your time.

Herrington: Thank you very much. I really appreciate you.

Morris: And thank you to everyone who joined us and listened to this episode. As always, we'll have more episodes coming out, so subscribe and follow along for more conversations like this.

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

Matt Herrington, Chief Operating Officer

Matt Herrington is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Extra Space Storage, where he oversees operations, facilities, and construction. He joined Extra Space in 2007 and has held leadership roles throughout the company, including District Manager, Senior District Manager, Divisional Vice President, and Senior Vice President of Operations before becoming Chief Operating Officer in 2020. He holds a Master of Science in Management from Baker University and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

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.