SSA Board of Directors

The SSA Board of Directors is comprised of duly-elected industry leaders from all of SSA's various constituencies including affiliated associations, member companies of all sizes as well as vendor firms.

Michael Riva is in charge of development and management of 8 self storage facilities owned by Stor-It-All Inc. He has a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Management. Riva has served on the Connecticut Self Storage Association Board as Secretary, on the SSA Northeast Region Board, and is currently Secretary of the SSA National Board. Riva is also currently the Co-Chair of the SSA Conference Committee and has served as Chair of the SSA Executive Ski Workshop.

In 1988 Kelly Gallacher co-founded the Devon Group and affiliated companies. In 1993, Gallacher was responsible for sourcing Devon's first investment in the self storage business with the acquisition and conversion of a vacant strip center in Houston, Texas. As a result of that property's success, Mr Gallacher refocused his activities into the self storage conversion business and converted over 70 existing retail and industrial properties into self storage assets throughout the US. 

In August 2000, Gallacher relocated to Europe to develop and manage eight sites - three in France, two in Germany and three in the Netherlands.  In March 2001, Gallacher was elected as a member of the board of directors of the Self Storage Association of the United Kingdom and the European Self Storage Association.  He returned to the U.S. in August 2003. In addition to his service for three years as a board member, he has spoken at numerous self storage conferences in both the U.S. and Europe and authored numerous articles for the industry.

In February 2005, Gallacher was elected to the California Self Storage Association board of directors and in January 2006 was elected president of the board. He is also a member of the AAC (Affiliated Association Council) to the national Self Storage Association. In September 2007, Gallacher was elected to the board of directors of the national Self Storage Association. He is a 1980 graduate of Brigham Young University.

John Barry has been in the self storage industry since 1997. He developed two facilities in Pennsylvania which he still owns and manages today. He is also a self storage broker with Investment Real Estate LLC located in York, PA. John is responsible for the daily operation of the self storage brokerage business for Investment Real Estate, including property sales, due diligence, financial analysis and feasibility studies for properties throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States. John has been on the board of the Pennsylvania Self Storage Association since 2008.

Previously, he was in the financial services industry for over nineteen years.  For ten years, he was in the municipal bond business with what is now known as RBC Dain Rauscher. Clients ranged from municipal authorities, health care facilities, and revenue bond pools to general obligation issuers such as cities, counties, and school districts. As syndicate manager and bond trader, he advised investment bankers on the pricing, marketing, and risk management involved with each deal and traded those securities in the secondary market.  He served as the manager of the firm’s municipal bond department.

Within investment divisions of holding company affiliates with what is today, PNC Bank, John served as Managing Director of Investments.  He was responsible for over $1 billion in assets under management, the associated investment strategies, and led a team of portfolio managers and brokers.

Barry is a graduate of James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Real Estate.

Terry Bagley is the President & CEO of Centershift, Inc., a rental management and point-of-sale software solution to the self storage industry. He has been involved in the self storage industry for nearly 8 years. He has a degree in Accounting from Brigham Young University as well as an MBA from San Jose State University. Bagley is on the Board of Centershift, Inc. (since 2005), the Utah Self Storage Association Board (since 2007), and the Yellowstone Hotel Systems Board (since 2008). He also serves as Co-Chair of the Utah Technology Council Public Policy Committee.

Lisa Barth-Chiappetta was born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin and has been involved with self storage from an early age as her parents owned and operated a self storage facility. She is part owner and operator of the family business, which has three storage facilities in Kenosha. Currently Barth-Chiappetta is the operations manager and assists in the construction and development for Barth Storage.

She has served on the Wisconsin Self Storage Association for four years and is currently the President of the WSSA. Barth-Chiappetta was instrumental in getting the late-fee law passed for the state of Wisconsin. She has traveled throughout the state of Wisconsin as a speaker at trade shows and conventions and was a speaker at the 2007 Leadership Convention in Florida.

Barth-Chiappetta serves on the local Women's Fund, which hosts one of Kenosha's most profitable fundraisers. Every year she also conducts a fundraiser for the homeless shelter and food pantry which raised over $8,000 last year.

From 1999 through the present Mr. Danzis has led the acquisition of self storage facilities throughout New Jersey and Southern New York. He is responsible for organizing partnerships, performing due diligence, arranging financing, setting up management, banking, computer systems, advertising, security and maintenance procedures and systems. He is the current Manager and a Member of the owing entities of all Storage Station locations.

Mitchell has been recognized as an expert witness testifying in all areas of self storage management and development. In May of 2006, he was appointed Rent Receiver by the Superior Courts of Monmouth and Middlesex Counties of New Jersey. He serves as President of the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Self Storage Association; Past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the New York Self Storage Association; Member of the Board of  Directors, Chairman of the Insurance Task Force, Past Chairman of Legislative-Regulatory Fund Advisory  Committee of the Self Storage Association. He is also a Member of the Business Advisory Board of New Jersey’s Union Center National Bank.

In addition to self storage, Mitchell has been active in site development and conversion projects ranging from high rise locations to parking lots. He was also responsible for overseeing the purchase renovation and sale of single and multifamily dwellings throughout New Jersey. In addition, he serves as the Co-managing Member of New Jersey’s largest privately owned Tennis Club.

Prior to entering the real estate world, Mr. Danzis was employed in the fields of Television Production, Concert Promotion and Musical Talent Booking. He is a 1990 multiple-term Dean’s List graduate of New York University (NYU). He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Music as well a 1996 Certification in Building Inspection.

Jim DiNardo has over 19 years of experience in the self-storage industry, having
served as a partner and Operations Manager for The Storage Depot until the company was sold to Extra Space Storage (EXR) of Salt Lake City, UT in February 2004. The Storage Depot was one of the largest operators of self-storage facilities in the Greater Boston Metropolitan Area, with five locations, and had been in business since 1983. As Operations Manager, Mr. DiNardo was involved in all aspects of the business and responsible for the overall performance of the staff and facilities.

Mr. DiNardo graduated from Bentley College with a Bachelor of Science in
Management in 1985. His involvement in trade associations includes: Self Storage
Association (SSA) Northeast Region Director/President and National Board Member from 1998-2003; co-founder of the Massachusetts Self Storage Association (MASSA), serving as President from 1998-2002, President Emeritus from 2003-2004, and Treasurer from 2005-2007; Ryder Boston Dealer Council Representative/President from 1992-1998.

In 2004, Mr. DiNardo announced the formation of J. DiNardo Consulting, a
consulting firm specializing in the self-storage industry. J. DiNardo Consulting performs self-storage feasibility and market studies, analyzes a wide range of facility operations, and performs general business consulting.

Mr. DiNardo also speaks at industry trade shows/conferences and he is a
frequent editorial contributor to industry trade publications and magazines, including state association newsletters, the SSA Globe, Mini-Storage Messenger, Self-Storage Now!, Inside Self-Storage, and The Self-Storage Telegram.

Shelley Geiler is a native of California, where she currently resides in Newport Beach. She is a co-owner of Polo Properties, LLC a mid-size operator and developer of self storage properties in Southern California. Ms. Geiler graduated Cum Laude from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and later went on to receive her juris doctorate from New York University's School of Law. After graduating from film school, Shelley worked in the film industry for several years as a creative executive, participating in all aspects of film production, overseeing budgets, negotiating contracts, and development. After law school, Shelley worked as an attorney in the corporate department of a New York law firm specializing in business and technology. While there, she worked on many transactions including private placements, mergers and acquisitions and security compliance for public companies.

In 2003, Shelley decided to return to California to join her family's self storage business. Both of her parents have been in self storage for over 20 years and her mother, Joanne Geiler, was the president of the Self Storage Association and a founding member of the California Self Storage Association. Shelley has been actively involved in all phases of development, finance and management of self storage properties. She also acts as the company's in-house counsel. Since joining the company, she has embarked on a mission to rebrand the company's properties, under the name SoCal Self Storage. She sits on the board of directors of the California Self Storage Association and is a proud winner of the "Young Buck" award (given at the SSA's Executive Ski Workshop). She is also a member of the New York State Bar.

Marc M. Smith, National Director Personal Mini Storage Management Co. 6327 Edgewater Drive Orlando, FL 32810 (407) 297-3683 Fax: (407) 578-0400 Email: ms@personalministorage.com

Marc M. Smith is President of Shader Brothers Corporation dba Personal Mini Storage, a self storage management, development and syndication company in Florida.  He has an undergraduate business degree in real estate and finance from The University of Texas, a Master of Building Construction degree from The University of Florida and is a graduate of the Owner President Management Program at Harvard Business School.

A licensed real estate broker and building contractor, Marc has been involved in all facets of the self storage business for over fifteen years including, and not limited to: acquisitions, site selection, start-ups, construction management, design, systems analysis as well as overseeing management of thirty one (31) self storage locations.  An active self storage investor, he is a past president of the Southeast Region of the Self Storage Association, and previously served as a national board member. Marc currently also serves on the Self Storage Association Foundation Board of Governors and is active in Orlando philanthropic causes.

Mike Scanlon has more than forty years of executive experience in politics, government and corporations, with 22 years in the not-for-profit sector. Currently he serves as president and chief executive officer of the Self Storage Association (SSA) in Alexandria, Virginia. The Association represents the $20+ billion (annual revenues) self storage industry that has grown to some 46,500 primary facilities across the nation in the last 36 years.

Since taking the helm, he has re-invented the SSA from its brand identification to its vision and mission statement to each of its program and service offerings. He created the SSA Foundation, a fully tax-exempt IRS chartered 501-c-(3) not-for profit charitable and educational organization that oversees the publication of the SSA Globe magazine, SSA's educational programs, administration of the industry's "Code of Ethics," nominations to the Self Storage "Hall of Fame," and student scholarships.  Also, he formed a new for-profit subsidiary, SSA Enterprises LLC, to house the Association's non-dues income-producing programs. Also, he organized the industry's new federal Political Action Committee (PAC).

As publisher, he took the Association's modest newsletter and turned it into the SSA Globe magazine, now the largest paid-circulation magazine in the industry with an audited monthly circulation of more than 15,000. He developed several new vendor sponsorship categories that have raised millions in new non-dues revenue for the SSA. He created and developed the SSA's National Facilities Database of each and every self storage facility operating in the U.S.  He brought the SSA and state associations together in the Affiliated Associations Council (AAC) to information share best practices for the betterment of the industry. He has provided direction and leadership to SSA's publication program, launching eighteen new books, manuals and research reports.

During his tenure, SSA membership has grown from 2,300 to some 6,000 direct and indirect member companies and the Association's annual budget has more than doubled.

Prior to his current position, Scanlon served in the as associate executive director of the 400,000-member American Bar Association (ABA) and as senior manager in charge of its 185-person Communications Group (with its $24 million budget) that produces the ABA Journal, 17 other magazines and 34 separate newsletters.  His prior association experience includes an eight-year stint as executive vice president and chief executive officer of the Petroleum Marketing Education Foundation (PMEF), the oil industry's executive education arm, and five years as vice president for policy (and as chief lobbyist) for the Petroleum Marketers Association of America (PMAA) representing 10,000 small business petroleum distributors and convenience store owners.

Scanlon has also served in the private sector as president of The Collins Companies, a professional sports franchise ownership and management investment group, and as senior vice president for marketing and communications for Metrocall, Inc. (now USA Mobility, Inc.), the nation's largest wireless data and messaging company.  Earlier in his career he served as manager of government affairs for Arcata National Corporation, a forest products, printing, publishing and consumer products conglomerate.

Scanlon was involved in government and politics at the national and local levels.  He was a consultant to The White House - Office of Political Affairs, under President Ronald W. Reagan, during the 1982 mid-term U.S. Senatorial & Congressional elections. Also, he served at The White House - Office of Public Liaison, under President Gerald R. Ford, as a director of White House Conferences. During the Nixon Administration he served as special assistant to the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); as bureau chief for state & local government programs for the Federal Energy Office - Executive Office of the President, during the 1973-74 oil embargo period. Prior to federal government service he was director of communications for The City of Cleveland, Ohio (his hometown).  And he was a political aide to two U.S. Senators, Robert Taft, Jr. of Ohio and Robert J. Dole of Kansas.

Scanlon is a graduate of John Carroll University, in University Heights, Ohio with a degree in Communication.  He is a member of the Building Owners & Managers Association (BOMA), National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), and the Urban Land Institute (ULI).

He is the Self Storage Association's (SSA) general counsel and a recognized authority on the law of self storage operations. Kaslow has over 20 years experience in the self storage industry. He is a California attorney, publisher/editor of SSA's Self Storage Legal Review, and a founding partner of the Self Storage Legal Network. In addition to authoring self storage lien manuals for several states, Kaslow is co-author of The Best [Questions and Answers] of the Self Storage Legal Network, recently published by SSA, as well as SSA's Rental Agreement Handbook, the industry's authoritative source of information on drafting self-storage rental agreements.