Executive Team

Ms. Fischer currently serves as our Executive Chairperson and served as our Chief Executive Officer from January 1, 2020 to March 31, 2023 and as our President from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2022. Effective April 1, 2023, Ms. Fischer was elevated to the position of Executive Chairperson. Prior to January 1, 2020, Ms. Fischer served as our Chief Financial Officer since our inception in 2013.

Prior to this role, from 2004 to 2008, Ms. Fischer served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Vintage Wine Trust, Inc., a real estate investment trust, where she was involved in all aspects of the company's capital markets, investor relations and financial reporting activities. She continued to serve Vintage Wine Trust as a consultant through its dissolution in 2010 and served in various other consulting positions until becoming involved with the Company. From 1993 to 2003, Ms. Fischer served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Chateau Communities, Inc., one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the manufactured home community sector. Ms. Fischer serves on the board of directors of Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc., a multifamily-focused, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, where she serves on the audit committee and real estate investment committee. Ms. Fischer also serves on the Board of Directors of JLL Income Property Trust, Inc., a daily NAV real estate investment trust that owns and manages a diversified portfolio of high quality, income-producing apartment, industrial, grocery-anchored retail, healthcare located in the United States. In addition, Ms. Fischer served on the Board of Directors of Duke Realty Corporation from February 2020 until its acquisition by Prologis, Inc. in October 2022. Ms. Fischer serves on the Nareit Advisory Board of Governors and previously served on Nareit's Executive Board and the Board of the National Self Storage Association, the industry's trade organization.

Ms. Fischer is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration.

Mr. Nordhagen currently serves as our Vice Chairperson, is the founder of our Company, and served as our Chief Executive Officer from our inception in 2013 until January 2020 when he was elevated to Executive Chairman.  Mr. Nordhagen also served as our Chairman from the closing of our IPO in April 2015 until March 2023.   Effective April 1, 2023, Mr. Nordhagen became Vice Chairperson. Prior to the closing of our IPO, he was the Chairman of the Board of Managers of our Company's sole trustee.  He also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of SecurCare Self Storage, Inc. ("SecurCare"), which he co-founded in 1988, from 2000 to 2014. Since Mr. Nordhagen became President of SecurCare in 1999, the company rapidly grew to over 150 self storage properties.  SecurCare was one of our PROs until March 31, 2020. 

In addition, Mr. Nordhagen was a founder of MMM Healthcare, Inc., the largest provider of Medicare Advantage health insurance in Puerto Rico.  He has also served as Managing Member of various private investment funds and held various managerial positions at DuPont and Synthetech, Inc. 

Mr. Nordhagen graduated with high distinction from Harvard University with a Masters in Business Administration and graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Dakota with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering.  Mr. Nordhagen has over 30 years of experience in the self storage industry.

David Cramer was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer in April 2023. Before assuming his current role, Mr. Cramer served as President and Chief Operating Officer since July 2022 and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from April 2020 to July 2022. In addition, he has served as the Chairman of NSA’s Best Practices Committee since its inception.

David has more than 24 years of experience in the self storage industry beginning in 1998 when he joined SecurCare Self Storage, the predecessor company to NSA. At SecurCare, he served as Director of Operations from 1998 to 2005, Chief Operating Officer from 2005 to 2013, and President and Chief Executive Officer from 2013 to 2020. Prior to joining SecurCare Self Storage, David worked for Target (NYSE:TGT) for 12 years where he held several operational and managerial positions.

David currently serves as a board member for the Storage Business Owners Alliance Tenant Insurance program (SBOATI). SBOATI is an insurance product that was created by self storage owners for self storage owners.

Brandon Togashi has served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer since January 1, 2020. He previously served as our Chief Accounting Officer from 2017 to 2024 and held the position of Controller from 2014 to 2019.

Before joining NSA, he served as Vice President of Corporate Accounting at DCT Industrial Trust Inc. from 2013 through 2014 and as a Senior Manager in the audit practice of KPMG LLP from 2010 to 2013.

Brandon is a Certified Public Accountant and graduated magna cum laude, as a university honors scholar, from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Will Cowan serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of NSA.  He currently oversees all aspects of NSA’s strategic initiatives, including acquisitions, dispositions, investor relations, risk management, insurance and internal audit functions for the Company.

Previously, Will served as Managing Director in the Real Estate, Gaming, Lodging and Leisure Group of Jefferies LLC, leading the US coverage efforts for self storage, multifamily, industrial and net lease sectors. He joined Jefferies in 2012 after working in the Real Estate, Gaming and Lodging Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. During his 15 years in investment banking, he was closely involved in over $160 billion of advisory and capital markets transactions for public and private real estate companies.

Prior to investment banking, Will served in the 25th Infantry Division of the United States Army and rose to the rank of Captain. Will holds a Master of Business Administration from the Darden School of Business at University of Virginia where received the Faculty Award for Academic Excellence. He also received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Davidson College and was awarded an Army ROTC scholarship.

Tiffany Kenyon was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer in January 2023. Before assuming her current role, Ms. Kenyon served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel since January 2022 and Senior Vice President and Senior Legal Officer from May 2018 to January 2022.

Prior to joining the Company, Tiffany served for ten years with MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P., most recently as Vice President, Law, where she focused on commercial transactions, finance, and corporate and securities matters. Prior to joining MarkWest, she was with Greenberg Traurig, LLP from 2000 until 2008 where she focused on real estate, corporate and securities matters.

Ms. Kenyon received her J.D. degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Melissa Cameron was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer in April 2024. Before assuming her current role, Mrs. Cameron served as Senior Vice President of Customer Acquisitions since 2021, and Vice President of Marketing from 2018 to 2021.

Melissa has over 25 years of digital marketing experience. Prior to joining the Company, Melissa served for over five years at Extra Space Storage (NYSE: EXR), most recently as Senior Director of Digital Marketing, where she led the digital marketing and customer experience teams. Before Extra Space, from 2005 through 2012, Melissa worked at a New York-based digital marketing agency as a Sr. Digital Marketing Consultant and then as Vice President of Client Services.  

Melissa holds a bachelor's degree in commerce with a concentration in marketing from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

John Esbenshade was appointed Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer in January 2025. Before assuming his current role, Mr. Esbenshade served as Senior Vice President, Controller since September 2022, and previously served as the company’s Vice President, Controller from March 2019 to September 2022.

Prior to joining the Company, John served as Vice President of Technical Accounting and Strategic Capital at Prologis (PLD), where he was employed from 2014 through 2019. Prior to that role, he was employed in Deloitte’s audit practice from 2003 to 2014, most recently as a Senior Manager.

John is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Master of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in accounting and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in finance from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.