Leading Voices In Real Estate

Ken grew up in Northern California’s Bay Area, eventually receiving his M.B.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford in Business. Simultaneously, he obtained a California Brokers License because he was drawn to real estate. He was aware of the self-storage industry in California, but when he moved out to Boston after college he saw that there was a gap in the market on the East Coast. This piqued his interest in the industry.After opening up the first Extra Space Storage in Billings, MT in 1977 in a partnership with his boss at the time, Ken went on to teach at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah. There, he continued growing Extra Space, until sky-high interest rates slowed down development in the early 1980s and again in the early 1990’s.“I didn’t think it through very well… but you know, sometimes when you’re an entrepreneur you don’t have a good long-term strategy. You’re just trying to survive.”The Modern Extra SpaceInspired by the corporate strategy class he was teaching, Ken realized in 1998 he was serious about g