Governance

Tamara D. Fischer serves as Executive Chair of the Board of Trustees. She served as Chief Executive Officer of the Company from 2020 to 2023 and served as Chief Financial Officer from inception in 2013 to 2020.

Before joining NSA, Tamara served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Vintage Wine Trust, Inc., a real estate investment trust focused on assets in the U.S. wine industry, from 2004 to 2008. 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 NSA. From 1993 to 2003, Tamara served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Chateau Communities, Inc. (NYSE: CPJ), one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the manufactured home community sector. She remained at Chateau through its sale in 2003. Prior to joining Chateau, she served as a member of the audit staff at Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers).

Tamara is a member of the Executive Board of Governors for Nareit and serves as Chairman of the national Self Storage Association.

Arlen D. Nordhagen is a co-founder of NSA and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees. He served as Executive Chairman of NSA from 2020 to 2023, Chairman from 2015 to 2020, Chief Executive Officer from inception in 2013 – 2020, and President and Chief Executive Officer of SecurCare from 1999 to 2013.

Arlen has over 30 years of experience in the self storage industry, beginning in 1988 when he co-founded NSA's predecessor, SecurCare Self Storage. In addition to SecurCare, Arlen 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 (NYSE: DD) and Synthetech, Inc. (NYSE: GRA).

Arlen 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 in Chemical Engineering.

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.

Mr. Hylbert currently serves as NSA’s lead independent trustee and in that role he presides at the regularly scheduled executive sessions of the independent trustees. Mr. Hylbert has served as an officer and/or director of a number of companies over the past 40 years. Most recently, he served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kodiak Building Partners, LLC, from 2011 to 2014. Prior to this role, from 2007 to 2010, Mr. Hylbert served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of ProBuild Holdings Inc., a national fabricator and distributor of building products and a subsidiary of Fidelity Capital. From 2000 until 2006, Mr. Hylbert served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Lanoga Corporation, one of the top U.S. retailers of lumber and building materials, until it was acquired by Fidelity Capital. Mr. Hylbert also served as the President and Co-Chief Executive Officer of PrimeSource Building Products, a national fabricator, packager and distributor of building products from 1991 to 1997, after which the company was sold and Mr. Hylbert served as President from 1997 to 2000. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hylbert served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Wickes Europe, Wickes Lumber, and Sequoia Supply subsidiaries of Wickes, Inc. before leading a leveraged buy-out of Sequoia Supply to form PrimeSource Building Products in 1987. Mr. Hylbert graduated from the University of Michigan with a Masters in Business Administration and graduated from Denison University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree.

Mr. Allan is the co-owner of Optivest Properties, LLC (“Optivest”), one of NSA’s founding PROs. Mr. Allan co-founded Optivest in 2007 and held the position of President for more than 17 years until his retirement in July 2024. During his tenure with Optivest, Mr. Allan focused on acquisition and financing strategies to drive growth. Under his leadership, Optivest grew to over 100 properties under management, establishing it as one of the largest operators in the country. Mr. Allan also served on NSA’s PRO Advisory Committee for 10 years until its dissolution in June 2024. Prior to Optivest, Mr. Allan began his self storage career as the Operations Director of a large, regional self storage operator.

Lisa is the President and General Counsel of Apartment Income REIT Corp. or AIR (NYSE: AIRC) which was created from the separation transaction of Aimco (NYSE: AIV). She has specific responsibility for governance, information technology and process innovation, human resources, and legal.  Lisa also serves on the NAREIT Advisory Board of Governors. Prior to her role with AIR, Lisa served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Aimco, which she joined in 2002. During her tenure, Lisa has had increasing levels of responsibilities across the company, serving as a cross-functional leader of the organization. In addition to serving as General Counsel, Lisa has had responsibility for construction services, asset quality and service, insurance, risk management, human resources, property dispositions nationwide, and Aimco’s acquisition activities in the western region. She has also previously served as chairman of Aimco’s investment committee.  

Prior to joining Aimco, Lisa was engaged in the private practice of law at Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells), with an emphasis on public and private transactional work, public equity offerings and venture capital financing.  She also spent two years as a Federal judicial clerk.

Lisa earned her undergraduate degree (with honors and distinction) in public policy from Stanford University and earned her law degree (cum laude) from Harvard Law School and served on the Harvard Law Review, including as managing editor.

Lisa is active in her community. Since 2022, she has served on the Board of Directors of BBYO. Since 2018, she has served on the Board of Trustees of the Craig Hospital Foundation and serves as the chair of the Foundation’s Finance and Investment Committee. From 2010-2020 she served as a trustee of the Rose Community Foundation. From 2012-2015, Lisa served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Denver Jewish Day School and served on the Board of Trustees from 2008 to 2016.

Mr. Meisinger is the Chief Executive Officer of Over The Top (“OTT”) Marketing, which he founded in 2006. OTT Marketing provides multi-location businesses with large scale, inbound digital customer acquisition services that are delivered through a proprietary software platform. In addition, Mr. Meisinger co-founded Thinique Medical Weight Loss in 2013 and built it to over 200 franchised units within a year before selling ownership interests to one of his co-founders. Mr. Meisinger also had the regional development rights for The Joint Corp. between 2011 and 2014, where he was developing more than 40 chiropractic clinics throughout Los Angeles County. Prior to founding OTT, Mr. Meisinger served as Head of Affiliate Sales and Marketing for Google Radio from 2006 to 2009. He joined Google Radio after serving as a key investor and Chief Marketing Officer of dMarc Broadcasting, which was acquired by Google Radio in February of 2006. Mr. Meisinger also served as co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First MediaWorks from 1999 to 2005, which provided the radio industry with a proprietary software platform and marketing services to help increase ratings and revenue. First MediaWorks was sold to Mediaspan in 2005. Beginning in 1995, Mr. Meisinger served as co-founder, Chief Executive Officer and Board Trustee of First Internet Franchise Corporation, the first Internet Service Providers (ISP) franchisor in the world with hundreds of franchise territories licensed worldwide.

Mr. Osgood currently serves on the board of directors of Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital Inc. as an independent director and member of the audit committee, a position he was elected to on January 8, 2015. He has also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Square Foot Companies, LLC, a Cleveland, Ohio based private real estate company focused on self storage and single tenant properties since 2008. Mr. Osgood is primarily responsible for the acquisition and financing of properties, as well as overall responsibility for the organization. Mr. Osgood also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of All Stor Storage, LLC, a Delaware based limited liability company focused on the acquisition and ownership of self storage properties. From 2007 to 2008, Mr. Osgood served as Chief Financial Officer of DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc., a Washington, DC based real estate investment trust that owns, operates and develops data center properties. Mr. Osgood was part of the management team that executed the company’s initial public offering in 2007 which involved its transition from a private to public company. From 2006 to 2007 Mr. Osgood served as Chief Financial Officer of Global Signal, Inc., a Sarasota, Florida based real estate investment trust that owned, leased, or managed approximately 11,000 towers and other wireless sites prior to its acquisition by Crown Castle International Corp. in 2007. Prior to Global Signal, Mr. Osgood served as President and Chief Financial Officer of U-Store-It Trust (now CubeSmart), a Cleveland based self storage real estate investment trust, from the company’s initial public offering in 2004 through 2006. Mr. Osgood served as Chief Financial Officer of the Amsdell Companies, the predecessor of U-Store-It, from 1993 until 2004. Mr. Osgood is a former Certified Public Accountant and was a member of the auditing staff of Touche Ross & Co. from 1978 to 1982. Mr. Osgood graduated from the University of San Diego with a Masters in Business Administration and graduated from Miami University with a Bachelor of Science Degree.

Mr. Palazzo has more than 34 years of combined experience in public accounting and industry, including 29 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC (‘‘PwC’’). Mr. Palazzo most recently held the position of Audit Partner at PwC until his retirement in 2011. While at PwC Mr. Palazzo was responsible for the real estate practice in their Denver, Colorado office. His expertise is in due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, public equity and debt offerings, corporate restructurings and financings. While at PwC his clients included Chateau Communities, Affordable Residential Communities, and other private real estate companies. He also served real estate clients that developed a number of different types of real estate assets, including multi-family, office, hotels and resort properties. As a partner at PwC, Mr. Palazzo was responsible for the initial public offering of Affordable Residential Communities in 2004 and was responsible for a significant consulting project for a multi-family public REIT in connection with an SEC investigation. In addition, Mr. Palazzo served in the PwC National Accounting and SEC Directorate in New York City where he performed technical accounting consultations and research for PwC. Mr. Palazzo was also the past president of the Executive Real Estate Roundtable and a former member of the Colorado Society of CPAs and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Palazzo graduated from DePaul University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting.

Mr. Schall is retired from Essex Property Trust (NYSE: ESS), where he held the position of President and Chief Executive Officer from 2010 through the first quarter of 2023. Mr. Schall served as the Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for ESS from 2005 to 2010, responsible for the strategic planning and management of the Company’s property operations, redevelopment and co-investment programs, and from 1993 to 2005 as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer. He was employed at Marcus & Millichap Company from 1986 to 1993 and served as the Chief Financial Officer of ESS’ predecessor, Essex Property Corporation. From 1982 to 1986, he served as Director of Finance at Churchill International, a technology-oriented venture capital company. From 1979 to 1982, Mr. Schall was employed in the audit department of Ernst & Whinney (now Ernst & Young), where he specialized in the real estate and financial services industries.

Mr. Schall currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, Inc. (NYSE: PEB), and served as a member of the Board of Directors of ESS from 1994 to 2024.

Mr. Schall received a B.S. from the University of San Francisco and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive), and is a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council and AICPA.

Rebecca L. Steinfort is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Eating Recovery Center & Pathlight Behavioral Health, a private-equity backed, national healthcare services provider focused on treating patients suffering from mood, anxiety, and eating disorders. Prior to this role, she served as the Chief Executive Officer of Hero Management LLC, a leading provider of healthcare practice management services for dental, orthodontic and vision care practices that serve the pediatric Medicaid population, from 2015 to 2016. Prior to joining Hero Management LLC in 2015, Ms. Steinfort held various positions at DaVita Healthcare Partners ("Davita") beginning in 2009, including Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of DaVita's primary-care subsidiary and Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer of DaVita's dialysis business unit. Previously, Ms. Steinfort held various leadership positions at QIP Holder, LLC (parent company of Quiznos, a multinational sandwich franchise, "Quiznos"), at Level 3 Communications, LLC and served as a consultant at Bain & Company. She has served as an independent director on the board of Milacron Holdings Corp. (NYSE: MCRN), a leading industrial technology company serving the plastics processing industry, where she also is a member of the audit committee. Additionally, Ms. Steinfort served on the board of directors of Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc. (NASD: NATR) as an independent director from February 2015 to May 2018, where she chaired the compliance committee and served as a member of the audit committee. Ms. Steinfort graduated from Harvard Business School with a Masters in Business Administration and graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts.

Mr. Wu currently is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business, where he has taught since 2015. In 2015, he retired from his role as Managing Director of BayNorth Capital, a Boston-based private real estate equity firm, which he co-founded in July 2004. Prior to co-founding BayNorth Capital, Mr. Wu co-founded the private equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners in July 1998 and served as Managing Director for 6 years. Prior to co-founding Charlesbank Capital Partners, he served for 3 years as a Managing Director of its predecessor firm, Harvard Private Capital Group, the private equity and real estate investment unit of Harvard Management Company. Prior to this role, Mr. Wu was a Managing Director at Aldrich Eastman & Waltch (“AEW”), where he directed the restructuring group and was a portfolio manager. Prior to AEW, Mr. Wu worked at Morgan Stanley in their corporate finance department. Mr. Wu currently serves as a Trustee for the University of Massachusetts and is also a Board member of the University of Massachusetts Building Authority. He is the Vice-Chair of Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Mr. Wu was a founding board member of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, a past President of the Newton Schools Foundation, and a former member of Harvard University’s Facilities and Planning Committee. Mr. Wu has a Masters of Business Administration, with distinction, and a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard University.