AJ Osborne is the CEO of Cedar Creek Capital and has an impressive 20 years of experience as a Self Storage owner, operator, and developer. He is the founder and board member of the largest Self Storage Co-op, Storelocal, as well as Tenant Inc—a SaaS company supporting self-storage facility management. AJ has also written the No. 1 bestselling book on Self Storage Investing and hosts the top rated and listened to self-storage podcast, Self Storage Income.

Anna Taylor is the Head of Self-Storage Lending at Live Oak Bank. Since 2015, Anna has focused exclusively on lending to self-storage entrepreneurs; financing acquisitions, refinances, expansions, and new construction projects across multiple loan types. Drawing upon her personal experience owning and developing self-storage, Anna leverages industry expertise to provide excellent customer service and empower her customers to reach their goals.

Travis Morrow has been on a mission to modernize the self-storage industry since he started in 2004. In 2019 Morrow was appointed by the Storelocal Board of Directors to become the CEO of the Storelocal organization. He has overseen the transformation of Storelocal into a profitable organization focused on supporting independent owner operators to stay competitive in a rapidly consolidating space.

Lance Watkins is the CEO, and founder, of Tenant Inc., a vertical SaaS platform disrupting the self-storage industry. For more than 25 years, he’s owned and operated a portfolio of self-storage properties himself. He leverages this experience to truly cater the software and services his company offers to the needs of self-storage operators. Prior to founding Tenant Inc., Watkins founded StoreLocal, giving smaller, independent operators access to the same resources as bigger REITs in the industry.

Owner/CEO of Keylock Storage and the Co-Founder/President of Cedar Creek Wealth, Ron has been an influential leader in the storage industry for over 19 years. He served on the Storelocal Cooperative Board of Directors during the early years of guiding them to financial success and he currently serves as Chair of the Idaho Self Storage Association.

Noah Starr is the CEO of TractIQ, the most comprehensive self-storage data platform ever built. We help investors, brokers, and operators find and analyze opportunities 10x faster using the most trusted data in the industry. TractIQ includes verified owner information, rental rates, development tracking, and demographic insights across 70,000+ self-storage facilities nationwide.

Conner is a freedom loving American and 3rd generation Idahoan. He is a father to three awesome kiddos and husband to an amazing wife. He has a background of entrepreneurship, business development, and real estate management and development.

Jesse Harmon leads Bitterroot Holdings' team for facility operations, marketing, and revenue optimization. He also implements cost-efficient initiatives and aligns marketing and revenue-producing strategies with the company's leadership. With a B.A. in Advertising and Public Relations from Chapman University, Mr. Harmon has extensive experience overseeing revenue management and consumer marketing for a publicly traded hospitality company.

Ben Gottfredson is the visionary behind Big Storage Ventures and Big Ben’s Moving & Storage, where he leads teams that specialize in scaling, operating, and optimizing self-storage investments. His passion for storage lies in its ability to create massive, generational wealth while providing operational simplicity and scale. When he's not in the trenches of business, you’ll find him traveling, fishing, boating, or playing sports. Most importantly, Ben is a devoted Christian, husband, and father.

In October 2020, Jonah partnered with David Hoover and co-founded Smartlock Self Storage®. He is an expert on topics including automation and modern remote management, passionate about the industry and excited to teach others. A Missouri native, he loves his Kansas City Chiefs. He resides in Dallas, TX and spends all of his non-working hours with his wife Lyvia and their two young entrepreneurs-in-training, Elisa and Braden.

Michael Cottam is a technical SEO consultant from Bend, Oregon, and a past board member of SEMpdx. He’s spoken at several conferences including MozCon, Engage, and Innotech. He’s been a guest on many podcasts, webinars, and panels, including recent appearances on the Ecommerce Traffic & Conversion Podcast, and the Perpetual Traffic podcast. Michael has been doing SEO consulting for over 15 years, with over 1400 clients from around the world (including Lance Watkins).

Frank DeSalvo is a founding member of Franklin Street’s National Self-Storage Advisory Group, where he and partner David Perlleshi lead one of the top-performing brokerage teams in the industry. Prior to getting into investment sales, Frank worked with Houston Street Capital to acquire and develop a portfolio of Class A storage assets in the Southeast. With over 10 years of experience in the storage industry, Frank is well versed in market trends, complex underwriting, and client negotiation.

David Perlleshi is a founding member of Franklin Street’s National Self-Storage Advisory Group, where he and his partner Frank DeSalvo lead one of the top-performing brokerage teams in the industry. With a focus on investment sales, David brings over a decade of experience navigating complex transactions and delivering strong outcomes for private owners, institutions, and developers across the country.

Shannon Charbonneau is the Vice President of Client Solutions for XPS Solutions, a third-party contact center operator providing people and technology to support clients at all stages of needs. Shannon joined the company in 2011 and has spent the last several years traveling across the country to meet with self-storage owners and operators to learn how to best meet their needs for support in the ever-changing landscape of self-storage.

Mr. Bilton is the Director of Western Sales , Noke Smart Entry for Janus International Group Mr. Bilton joined the Janus/Noke team in December of 2018 immediately following the Janus acquisition of Noke. Prior to that time, he served as Senior Vice President of the Storage of America team, and worked to bring increased efficiencies in entitlements, sourcing, relationship management and strategy.

Jacob Teel is a General Contractor and wood worker in a small mountain community who has been collecting single family homes as rentals for a retirement plan. Jacob joined SSI in Jan 2025, and decided to sell off a SFH for capital, and with the mentorship and training received from SSI, managed to close on 3 facilities in 5 months despite his wife being diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoing a double mastectomy in February.

Ashley Kehr is a real estate investor of 8 years and co-host of the BiggerPockets Real Estate Rookie podcast. She's the author of Real Estate Rookie: 90 Days to Your First Investment, and has built a buy-and-hold portfolio of over 30 units using various real estate strategies. Leveraging partnerships and creative financing, Ashley left accounting to pursue real estate full-time. When she's not podcasting, Ashley is raising three boys on a dairy farm in rural Buffalo, NY.

The Director of Acquisitions for the Fixated Real Estate Team specializes in cold calling, door knocking, and negotiations. He is also a co-creator of Fixated Events and responsible for attendee experience and speaker relations for the Limitless Financial Freedom Expo with Ken McElroy and Robert Kiyosaki. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, going to the gym, golfing, and investing in meaningful relationships.