Matthew M. Nagel
Chairman
Matthew M. Nagel is the Chairman of Metro Storage LLC and one of the firm’s owners. Mr. Nagel has served in a myriad of positions during his 22 years with the company, including acquisition director, Chief Financial Officer, President, and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Nagel has been involved in hundreds of self-storage properties representing over a billion dollars worth of financings, developments, acquisitions, dispositions, and management transactions. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Nagel was a futures trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Mr. Nagel received his MBA from Northwestern University's J.L.Kellogg Graduate School of Management and his B.S. in investment finance from Drake University. Mr. Nagel is a licensed real estate broker and a C.C.I.M. and has served on various bank advisory boards, community organizations and governmental committees.
K. Blair Nagel
Chief Executive Officer
K. Blair Nagel is the Chief Executive Officer of Metro Storage LLC. Mr. Nagel is on the Board of Governors of the Self Storage Association Foundation (SSAF). Past National Board Member of the Self Storage Association (SSA); past President and former Secretary of the SSA’s Central Region. Mr. Nagel received his MBA from DePaul University in 1992 and graduated from The American University in Washington, D.C. in 1986, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Prior to joining the company in 1987, he served as a market analyst for Centennial Development Corporation, Virginia-based real estate development firm. Mr. Nagel currently is the Treasurer of Lake Forest Caucus.
Martin J. Gallagher
President and Chief Operating Officer
Martin J. Gallagher is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Metro Storage LLC. Mr. Gallagher previously served in the role of Chief Financial Officer during which time he oversaw the purchase, sale, refinance of various self storage facilities and limited partnership interests. Prior to joining Metro, he served as Controller of a movie theatre operating company and was involved in the negotiation of leases and joint ventures involving real estate owned by the company outside of the regular theatre operations. Mr. Gallagher has five years of public and internal accounting experience with Ernst & Young and Bank One Corporation, as well as Assistant Controller functions with Hamilton Partners, a Chicago area real estate development company. Mr. Gallagher is a CPA and received his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Brian Blankenship
Executive Vice President
Brian D. Blankenship is the Executive Vice President with Metro Storage LLC. His responsibilities include overseeing the property management department, where he is responsible for the operational and financial performance for the Company's owned and managed portfolio of self storage assets. He also oversees the company's marketing efforts, vendor and third party owner management relationships.
Mr. Blankenship joined Metro Storage LLC in 1999, and has been involved in the self storage industry since 1997. Prior to his tenure at Metro, he was employed by a national self storage REIT as a District Manager and as a Regional Manager for a Chicago-based national parking management company. Mr. Blankenship graduated from National-Louis University (Chicago) with a Bachelor of Science in Management. He serves as a Board of Trustee for the Florida Self Storage Association, and is a member of the National Eagle Scout Association.
Timothy J. Casey
Managing Director, Acquisitions and Business Development
Timothy J. Casey is the Managing Director, Acquisitions and Business Development of Metro Storage LLC. Mr. Casey joined the firm in 2008 and is responsible for company growth through acquisitions and third party property management. Mr. Casey has over 20 years of commercial real estate experience with a focus on acquisitions and finance. Over his career he has closed more than $600 million in transactions, representing a broad selection of owners: from individual private investors to large institutional clients such as the Zell/Merrill Lynch Opportunity Funds, Equity Lifestyle Properties and the State of Florida Investment Board. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Casey was a Vice President, New Business Development for Buchanan Storage Capital. Mr. Casey received his Bachelor of Business Administration with a double major in Real Estate and Finance from the University of Wisconsin in 1987. Mr. Casey is a licensed real estate broker, a member of the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association and the Chicago Real Estate Investment Advisory Council.
Daniel Hryczyk
Chief Financial Officer
Daniel Hryczyk serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Metro Storage LLC. In this role, Mr. Hryczyk is responsible for the oversight and functions of the accounting and market research departments. Dan is responsible for financial controls in the company including general ledgers, accounts payable, fixed assets, financial reporting, tax preparations, annual budgets, cash management, construction draws and managing the accounting staff. Prior to his role as CFO, Mr. Hryczyk was the firm’s Senior Financial Analyst, overseeing the analysis and due diligence of new self-storage ventures, acquisitions, developments, and asset management projections. He has over nine years of experience in commercial real estate, having held accounting and finance positions with Equity Office Properties and General Growth Properties, two publicly-traded REITs. Mr. Hryczyk received an MBA from DePaul University and a BA in Finance from Michigan State University.
Christine Null
Director of Human Resources
Christine Null worked at Metro Storage LLC from July 2001 to December 2005 and rejoined the Metro team in January 2008 as Director of Human Resources. She is responsible for overseeing recruiting, payroll, and benefit administration as well as developing and retaining the staff of Metro Storage LLC. Christine has over twelve years of experience in human resources having held positions in Human Resources in manufacturing and higher education. Christine received her Bachelor of Mathematics from Bethel College in Mishawaka, Indiana in 1985. She is an active member in the Society of Human Resource Management and has the classification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources, SPHR.
Chris Arnold
Construction Manager
Chris C. Arnold serves as Construction Manager for Metro Storage LLC. He started in the position in 1995 and has helped establish the Construction Department's systems and guidelines. Since joining Metro Storage Mr. Arnold has overseen the construction of over $50 million of new self storage development. He has been involved extensively in development, design, estimating, contract preparation and scheduling of Metro's various construction projects.
Prior to joining the company, Mr. Arnold owned and operated his own construction company that catered to new construction and remodeling services for residential and commercial properties.
Scott Nemes
Information Technology Manager
Scott Nemes joined the Metro team in March of 2004 as a PC Technician for the stores. Since then, Scott has progressed to being the Information Technology Manager. He is responsible for managing the computer and telecommunication systems of both the home office and the self storage facilities. This involves maintaining the reliability of existing systems and the planning, development, and implementation of systems that leverage new information management technology.
Prior to joining the company, Mr. Nemes was employed at the ONEAC Corporation as an IT Support Specialist. Scott received his Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Technology in 2003 from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.