FEDESSA Conference & Trade Show 2022

The former CEO of Google Iberia and of General Electric Spain and Portugal, Isabel Aguilera is an international keynote speaker whose talks range from competitive leadership and successful human resource management, to new technologies and the challenges of the 21st century.

Drawing on her extensive executive experience in creating unique business models following mergers and acquisitions, Isabel consults multinational, multidisciplinary businesses on optimisation, management and monitoring processes.

According to Isabel, the recipe for corporate success is to internationalize corporations and increase competitiveness by focusing on innovation, human potential and brand.

Isabel was responsible for establishing Google Iberia in Spain and Portugal (2006-2008) and later served as the CEO of General Electric in Spain and Portugal (2008-2009).

Prior to this, she was responsible for creating NH Hotel Group’s international business model after it purchased hotel chains in Mexico, Germany and Holland. Developing her activity as a global COO, Isabel led the integration of all the operational models in record time and achieved savings of 38 million euros as a result.

One of the only two Spanish women included in Fortune Magazine’s ‘Top 50 Most Influential Executives in the World’, Isabel is also listed amongst the ‘Top 25 Senior Managers in Europe’ by The Financial Times and the ‘100 Most Influential People in Spain’ by El Mundo.

Her role in leading Dell Computer from ninth to first in the Spanish market (1997-2002) resulted in The Wall Street Journal naming her one of the ‘30 Most Influential Business Women in Europe’ in 2001. She has also worked in sales and marketing capacities for Airtel and HP Compaq.

In addition to being an associate professor at ESADE and Deusto Business School, Isabel participates in a number of entrepreneurial projects, such as IMAN Business Coaching, a leading Human Resources company.

Isabel was an independent board member of Indra (a leading Spanish IT company), Banco Mare Nostrum (a bank), Oryzon (a biopharmaceutical Company), Egasa (a gaming and entertainment company), Globalia (a Spanish travel Company), and Playa: Hotels&Resort. In 2009 Isabel founded her own Consultancy called IMAN.

She is a member of the advisory boards of Oracle Iberia, Deusto Business School, Manpower Group, Laureate and Aegón. Also is an associate professor at ESADE and at Deusto Business School, as well as a business consultant and takes part in several entrepreneurial projects.

Moreover, Isabel serves as a member of the advisory boards of Aegon Spain, Oracle Iberia, Deusto Business School and Manpower Group.

A frequent speaker at a variety of events, Isabel has proven experience in creating unique business models following various company mergers and acquisitions. She offers outstanding guidance on optimization, management and monitoring processes for multinational, multidisciplinary businesses and teams.

Emma has worked in the self storage industry since 2003, initially as a Store Manager in London for Access Self Storage, before moving into Property and Development. Emma moved to Safestore as Acquisitions Manager in 2008 followed by Storage King in 2011 where she has been the Head of UK Property for over ten years.  Prior to joining the self storage industry, Emma spent most of her time in the air teaching Air Cadets to fly motor gliders and achieved her Private Pilots Licence in 2001.

Ulf Christiansson is the founder of Securum Self Storage, which operates in the Algarve, Portugal. Ulf has a 30-year background in the real estate industry in Sweden as an administrator and consultant and since 1995 has been CEO and owner of Variant Fastighets AB, a Swedish real estate company with mainly commercial properties. Three years ago Ulf decided to open the first Securum Self Storage facility with high demands on Security, Climate and ventilation.

Oliver Close is a Senior Director at CBRE Ltd and leads the firm’s activities in the self storage sector.  Oliver has over 22 years’ experience in self storage and has provided real estate advice to many of the major operators in the industry, across both Europe and the Asian self storage markets.  
Oliver worked on the stock market flotations of both Shurgard and Safestore, has executed a number of sale transactions in several jurisdictions and collaborates closely with the SSA UK, including with the production of the UK Self Storage Survey for a period of years.  CBRE’s activities include, in addition to valuations and transactions, general advisory, debt advisory, equity raising, capital allowance advice, corporate finance and site acquisition services.

Andrew Miles Davis has been part of the social media landscape right from the beginning when he launched MySpace in the UK.  He has worked with thousands of brands and budding corporate entrepreneurs (Intrepreneurs) helping them go through a digital transformation, including KPMG, Ogilvy, Tesco and many others.

Many organisations are looking to answer the most popular question in digital and social media right now: ‘So What?’. Making sure all staff, from management down, connect social media to their business objectives through thought leadership, awareness and part of their sales process is a must.

Andrews session will use real life self storage examples and his experiences of using social media to find a self storage solution to give real industry examples of how you can generate sales and improve your brand presence using social media.

Tim is the President & Chief Executive Officer for the national Self Storage Association of the USA, a position he has held for over 7 years. Prior to overseeing the association, he spent 11 years as the organization’s Chief Operating Officer and Sr. VP of Government Relations. Tim has overseen the passage of more than 100 pieces of industry legislation to help improve the regulations that govern the lien process, insurance programs and other laws that influence the self storage sector. He has also helped the industry avoid sales taxes and other threats. A resident of Stafford, Virginia, Dietz previously lobbied in the environmental remediation and telecommunications sectors.

As CEO of R6 Digital, Michael leads a talented team of developers, designers and marketers harnessing the power of digital to drive action. 

With over a decade of Storage specific technology and marketing experience Michael Dogger is a world leading authority on Storage Marketing, Innovation and Technology.   He has a background in electrical engineering, finance and telecommunications.

He is passionate about demystifying the world of digital and shares his expertise through his purpose-driven endeavour, R6 Impact.

Taking a break from his roles on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! Now, ‘Aviva Premiership Rugby Highlights’ and Sky 1’s ‘The Match’ and passing up a much higher paid job offer to host a massively prestigious event just because he loved his time with the self storage industry so much last time.  Mark injects a level of humour into the event while keeping things on track and managing all the questions from the audience.

For the past fifteen years, Dr. John C. Hulsman has been the President and Managing Partner of John C. Hulsman Enterprises, a prominent global political risk consulting firm. Literally, the sun never sets on John’s political risk analysis: He is Senior Columnist for City AM, the newspaper of the city of London, while also writing regular columns on geopolitics, macroeconomics, and politics for Arab News in Riyadh, The Hill newspaper in Washington, Aspen in Rome, and various outlets in New Delhi.

Prior to this, Hulsman served as Fellow in European Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Senior Research Fellow in Geopolitics and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation for seven years, the largest think tank in the world. A Washington insider, he is a Life Member of the US Council on Foreign Relations, the pre-eminent US foreign policy institution. Hulsman is the author of all or part of 14 books, has given over 1560 interviews, written over 1110 articles, prepared over 1360 briefings, and delivered more than 620 speeches on global political risk and foreign policy for blue chip corporations and governments around the world.

Hulsman has made a name for himself as the pre-eminent predictor of global geopolitical risk in our new multipolar era, uniquely calling the Brexit referendum result, the 2020 US election perfectly (Presidency, House and Senate), the coming of the Sino-American Cold War, the tragic US failures at nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the rise of endemic inflation, as well as correctly calling 18 of his firm’s past 20 major political risk predictions. His most recent work, the best-selling, To Dare More Boldly: The Audacious Story of Political Risk, was published by Princeton University Press in April 2018 and is available for order on amazon. To keep up with all of John’s work during please subscribe at: johnhulsman.substack.com

Co-founding Stor-Age in 2005 at the age of 24, Gavin has successfully led the organisation to becoming the leading and largest self storage property fund and brand in South Africa, and the first and only self storage Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to be publicly traded and listed on any emerging market exchange globally.

Successfully listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in November 2015, Stor-Age made a strategic entry into the UK self storage market in 2017 through the acquisition of Storage King, the 6th largest UK self storage brand. The Group services more than 40 000 tenants across its portfolio of 85 properties (SA 55, UK 30).

In addition to its development pipeline of 14 properties across both markets, the Group offers a third-party management platform in the UK – Storage King Management 1^st and has an additional 7 properties trading under the brand.

With an embedded entrepreneurial ‘start-up’ culture at the heart of the organisation, Stor-Age successfully launched its bespoke digital service offering to independent, third-party operators in the UK and Europe in 2020, and today has 35 properties trading on the platform, across five countries, including England.

David Meade is a world-class international corporate speaker, performer and TV personality with a renowned reputation for helping organisations work more effectively. His mindreading, and mentalist skills impress and baffle worldwide audiences making his entertainment and keynotes hard to forget. His sought-after services are applicable to any industry, engagement, or occasion. David always guarantees a highly energetic, fun and engaging session.

David is a first-class honours graduate from Ulster Business School, and his work as a lecturer and researcher in International Business and Strategy with the University of Ulster, has built his reputation as one of Europe’s most sought after motivational and organisational speakers, trainers, and facilitators.

Over 85% percent of David’s diary is spent working at the executive level, motivating and inspiring some of the largest and most diverse organisations. He’s worked with organisations such as: Apple, PwC, BT, Saba, Harvard in Boston, the Cabinet Office in Westminster, Bombardier, and the Bank of America.

David’s CPD and motivational programmes are designed to build relationships, develop sustainable organisational engagement, and inspire and enthuse attendees to embrace the new cultures and values that the client espouses. All session content is delivered in a high energy and interactive style that captures attention and makes salient messages easier to digest, while also being predicated on evidence based research and techniques that have been rigorously peer reviewed, tested, and published by appropriate research outlets.

David has a track record of delivering motivational and development programmes to very large private and public-sector clients that are facing substantial organisational challenges.

Using a broad approach attendees will be empowered with a toolkit that they can use immediately in their role, irrespective of hierarchical level, that can make fundamental changes to how they see the company and their role in it. By the end of the keynote, or workshop, the participants will feel excited and enthused about the opportunities that the future offers the individuals and teams that comprise it. They will also feel stimulated to meaningfully engage in the future development of the organisation.

Laura started YBA (Your Business Angels) in 2014 having a lightbulb moment after attending a marketing course in Google Ads. Implementing what she learnt in the following six months, they attracted 108 new customers, adding £30,340 to their turnover, with a huge ROI of 220%. From there, she invested heavily in learning, travelling the world, attending programs and courses from some of the biggest marketing names in the world; devouring book after book, course after course and spent a solid six months of her life studying her new craft, day and night. 8 years later and with multiple awards under her belt and earning the prestigious accolades of being both a Google Premier partner and in the top 3% of agencies, Laura can tell you how using Google Ads and Facebook Ads can transform your business and produce new enquires like a well oiled machine!

Tom is one of the world’s leading brand strategists and communication specialists. He has spent 20 years working in the world’s best advertising agencies, building some of the most iconic brands. Tom brings a wealth of global experience having lived and worked in leadership positions for Ogilvy in Asia for 6 years, with DDB and CHI in London for 7 years and most recently for Publicis and Saatchi & Saatchi in Switzerland for the last 6 years. 

In that time he was worked for retailers such as Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse, Self Storage firms such as Big Yellow and Less Mess as well as a host of global brands including Volkswagen, Toyota, Dove, IBM and Coca-Cola. In 2020 Tom started his own brand building creative studio and consultancy called Mamapool winning Hitachi as their first client. Tom uses evidence based marketing principles. He will discuss why and how to optimise your communications and marketing so you build your brand for the long term whilst generating sales in the short term. He will discuss different metrics for evaluating success and how different media need to perform different roles. 

Jose is a Senior Real Estate and Self Storage professional with experience that include from starting from scratch, successfully building, managing and selling self-storage operators.  He has been partner and Co-Founder in SIMPLE BOX SPAIN and SIMPLE BOX URUGUAY, has wide experience in Logistic, Office and Commercial Real Estate being a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors since 2015. Jose holds a double Licentiate degree in Law and Business Administration from ICADE and has been the #1 ranked graduate in IE Real Estate Management Program 2014.

Rennie is the current CEO of the Self Storage Association UK & FEDESSA, having previously been the CEO of the Australasian Self Storage Association for over 9 years.  Rennie has extensive knowledge of the self storage industry across the world, from the developing Asian markets through to the birthplace of self storage in the USA.  He has over 22 years of association management experience 17 at CEO level.  Rennie is also on the Board of the Institute of Association Leadership, has an MBA and completed the Oxford University High performance leadership programme.

Gavin is the CEO at Stora - a new self storage software product for online bookings, payments and business automation - and MD at StoreStuff - a Northern Ireland-based operator of self storage facilities. Gavin was previously the CEO or co-founder at multiple technology companies including PiggyPot, Yomo and Turbulenz (acquired by Larian Studios). Prior to that, Gavin was a technology investor at $15billion private equity and VC firm, Summit Partners.

Jefferson Shreve founded Storage Express just out of Univertsity.  He's built a company with over 110 facilities in five Midwestern states. Storage Express pioneered the remote operation of its properties and continues to develop its portfolio and its operating platform. It's the largest Indiana-headquartered self storage owner/operator.  Jefferson is the chairman of the USA self storage association.  He earned his BA at Indiana University, his MBA from Purdue's Krannert School, and his MA from The University of London.

Geir (50) started his first business at age 14 which was a B2C distributor of software in the Norwegian marketplace. Since then he has started up, operated, merged, and sold businesses within: IT Outsourcing, Datacenter, Dinner Kit, Wine, Property, and now Self-Storage. He splits his time between Norway and South Africa.

Flexistore was developed to create the user journey most people expect of a company today, and by doing that, create a platform that saves the property owner a substantial expense.  Our App-driven approach gives the customer full control over his decisions, 24 hours a day - every day of the year. He can easily access, share access, order transport, upgrade or downgrade - all within seconds without any waiting time.

Our first site was launched three years ago, and we are now opening up two new sites per month in the Nordic Countries and South Africa. We plan to expand into the US and UK in the near future, and so far we have proven 35% - 40% saving for existing self-storage owners with a payback time of the investment in less than a year.

With serious investors onboard, we keep investing in technology. Our proprietary hardware and our own cloud-based software running on the Amazon platform secures a fast, scalable, and very cost-effective way for self-storage owners to go self-service. Our customer service center in Cape Town, South Africa, operates 24 hours with storage experts speaking English that everyone understands.

Carl E. Touhey began his real estate career in 1986 selling investment real estate in Phoenix, Arizona.  His family was an early investor in self storage and built their first storage facility in the 1970’s. An investment opportunity in 1992 launched Mr. Touhey into the self storage industry as he went on to acquire five storage facilities from 1992-1994. His interest and success in fixing “problem” properties resulted in an impressive ownership track record and in the early 90’s, Mr. Touhey took his knowledge of the self storage industry and began brokering storage properties in California. He has personally brokered over $980 million dollars of storage assets and his extensive track record and outstanding results have distinguished him as one of the most successful self storage sales and acquisitions specialists in the industry.