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2021 Board of Directors 

Officers & Committee Chairs

Melissa Huff

Association Director

info@tnssa.net

Melissa@MR-mgmt.com

Phone - 423-443-8249





Stephanie Tharpe

President

Committee: Events, Legislative & Website/Communications

Phone - 615-288-2162

Stephanie Tharpe is the president of A+ Management Group, and currently manages locations in Tennessee, Texas, Georgia and Florida. Stephanie has continued her role as Senior Vice President of Operations for A+ Storage of Tennessee, LLC, where she manages a portfolio of self-storage facilities in Nashville. Since 2013, she has served as President, Vice President, and Chair of Events and Education on the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Self Storage Association, which named her Manager of the Year in 2012.

Stephanie has been a featured speaker, round table leader and panelist at several national and state association conferences across the country since 2014. She has been published in trade magazines SSA Globe and Inside Self Storage (ISS), and featured on the ISS Blog. She has served on the Best Practice Committee for the Self Storage Association and has been a moderator for Self Storage Talk since 2009. Stephanie is an advocate for employees and has helped to bring recognition to the self storage industry on employee compensation and employee burn out.



Trey Kirby

Vice President

Committee: Membership, Legislative, Scholarship

Phone - 615-377-4747


Trey is a commercial real estate broker with an emphasis on self-storage investments, but also handles various other transactions.  He has been married for 16 years to wife Kim, who is a 2nd grade teacher at Trinity Elementary. They have two children (Kyla 11 & Will 8) and enjoy all types of sports and activities. Trey also enjoys being the soccer coach for both of their teams.



Chris Novarese

Treasurer


Phone - 901-290-0184

Chris was a founding board member of the TNSSA in 2007 and has been in the self-storage industry since 1997. He served in a variety of Operational roles at Storage USA, Public Storage and CubeSmart. Currently Chris is Chief Operating Officer at Premier Storage Investors. Chris has experience in strategic planning, financial management, public speaking, organizational development and events planning. 



Robert Craig

Assistant Treasurer


Phone - 615-726-6000

Mr. Craig has a B.B.A. from Southern Methodist University.  From 1976 to 1979 he was a Property Manager for Vantage Management Company, a division of the Vantage Companies, a commercial real estate development company headquartered in Dallas. His responsibilities involved the management of office properties primarily in the Dallas market.  In addition he helped with the development and growth of their third-party management operations.  During this period he was a licensed real estate broker and a member of IREM and BOMA.

From 1980 to 2001 Mr. Craig managed individual retirement and corporate pension fund investments, concentrating on equity portfolios (1970-2001).  Mr. Craig was introduced to A+ Storage in 2002 acting as a consultant in assisting a Dallas investment group and A+ Storage in the acquisition of a portfolio purchase of self-storage properties.

In 2005 Mr. Craig relocated from Dallas to Nashville and began working more closely with A+ Storage of Tennessee, LLC.  His scope of work includes the management of the A+ Storage Corporate offices and self storage facility located near downtown Nashville, in the Gulch.



Lee Creech

Secretary

Committee: Events

Phone - 

Lee joined Northshore Pellissippi Storage in 2012 as Assistant Manager, bringing a commitment to the highest levels of customer service and to applying modern revenue management techniques to the facility. He became Manager in 2014, and during his tenure has twice overseen the facility's expansion. He is currently TNSSA's 2018 Manager of the Year.

Drawing upon previous experience in the non_profit sector and as a revenue manager in the hospitality industry, Lee has implemented a data-driven approach to challenging many of the assumptions about self-storage. He is committed to maximizing revenue and creating value through providing "the right space, at the right time, for the right price."

Lee is originally from North Carolina and is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a member of the Vestry and is active at St. James Episcopal Church. He and his wife, Beth, live in Knoxville with their dog and two cats.




Chris Johnson

Board Member

Committee: Events, Membership, Scholarship

Phone - 423-340-1301

Chris Johnson has worked for the U-Haul Company for over 30 years out of the Alcoa,TN office, serving the Company owned storage locations as well as working with several independent storage locations.  He works with Area Field Managers training and certifying these individuals to perform their duties for the U-Haul Company.  He has been an instructor for U-Haul University the past 7 years, leading courses in leadership and prospecting for new business. Chris enjoys working with the independent self-storage locations, helping fill their storage rooms and with day to day business.  When time allows, he likes to ride his Harley Davidson and enjoy the scenery that our area has to offer.



Bev Krueger

Board Member

Committee: Legislative, Website/Communications

Phone - 615-692-2638


Bev Krueger

Board Member

Committee: Legislative, Website/Communications

Phone - 615-692-2638

Sum Effect Investments is a real estate investment group specializing in commercial real estate investments & operations. Bev has served as a board member of Real Estate Investors of Nashville since 2011 as chair of the membership committee, runs the Real Estate Investors Meetup group, serves on the Missions board at Christ Church Nashville, and is active in various community projects. Bev holds a Bachelor's degree from Western Michigan University in business management & accounting and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Central Florida. In addition, she has earned various real estate certifications including the Self Storage Association's Certified Self-Storage Manager (CSSM) designation. She previously worked 30+ years at the University of Central career as an Associate Controller in Finance & Accounting. 



Jamie Tuck

Board Member

Committee: Membership

Phone - 770-562-2850

Jamie is the Midwest and Eastern Canada Sales Manager at Janus International. He has been with Janus for 8 years. Prior to joining Janus, Jamie was President at Tuck, Stinard & Associates Architects Inc for 15 years. Tuck, Stinard specialized in the design of self-storage facilities throughout the Southeast. He attended Southern Technical Institute and Shorter College.  Jamie is also involved with GOBeyond Charities in Atlanta, GA. GOBeyond Charities is a non-profit corporation dedicated to spreading the warm spirit of giving throughout the year and especially during the holiday season.  He has been married to his wife Megann for 34 years. They have three daughters and two grandchildren.



Anne Williams

Board Member

Committee: Charity, Scholarship

Phone - 901-620-3622

Anne joined the National Self Storage Group at Marcus & Millichap in 2007 and has closed over $110 million in self-storage  transactions. Prior to joining Marcus & Millichap, Anne was employed by Extra Space Storage/Storage USA where she directed the sales and operations of fifteen self-storage facilities in the Memphis market.  Prior to her career at Extra Space Storage Anne sold residential real estate in the Memphis, TN marketplace. Having served the self-storage industry for fifteen years, Anne is a considered an expert and is frequently called upon to offer advice relevant to management, operations, market conditions, capital markets, and economic trends affecting the self storage industry.

In addition to working for Marcus & Millichap, Anne is a professional coach/mentor for Self Storage Profits. Through Self Storage Profits, she teaches real estate investors how to find, underwrite, acquire and operate a successful storage facility.



Andy Beeckman

Board Member

Committee: Membership

Phone - 615-440-2498


Andy Beeckman

Board Member

Committee: Membership

Phone - 615-440-2498

Andy is an experienced businessman with over 25 years of experience in areas of customer service, sales, project management, organizational development and operations. Andy started his storage career in operations as District Manager accountable for the people, profits and processes in two distinct MSA regions of the US. Beginning in the Phoenix/Tucson, AZ market managing existing stores and development sites prior to moving to Nashville, TN where he managed an average of 10 stores. He has served on the Arizona Self Storage Association (AZSA) Board while in Arizona and joined the Tennessee Self Storage Association (TNSSA) after arriving in Nashville.

Andy left Westport Properties Inc. / US Storage Centers in 2020 and joined the Williams Storage Group of Marcus & Millichap’s National Self Storage Group as an Affiliate Broker in their Brentwood, TN office. He facilitates the disposition, acquisition and refinance of self-storage assets throughout the MidSouth and takes an advisory approach to working with clients - focused on building lasting relationships – that add long term value. In his spare time Andy enjoys being outdoors, sailing, golf, beekeeping, fly fishing, hunting and being with family.



Grace Totty

Board Member

Committee: Website/Communications

Phone - 901-737-7336

Grace Totty is the Vice President of Marketing with Absolute Storage Management (ASM), responsible for all marketing aspects for ASM’s 135+ managed properties. These responsibilities range from web design, SEO, SEM, PPC, Social Media, content marketing and more.

Grace has over seven years of storage experience starting in operations, working closely with ASM’s founders. She is a frequent speaker at national trade shows and state shows, and currently sits on the TNSSA board. Grace holds a degree in Business Management from The University of Memphis in Business Management.

Right now, Grace fills up her weeks with volunteering and weekends experiencing new adventures.


Andy Nelson

Board Member

Committee: 

Phone -

Andy earned his B.B.A. in Accounting from East Tennessee State University.  He is the General Manager for 24 Hr Self Storage - handling supervision of day to day operations, property acquisition and development, business development and public relations. 

Andy's career in self storage started in 2009 at 24 Hr Self Storage.  His career also includes corporate procurement for a global manufacturing company and non-profit administration.  The thing he enjoys most about self storage is that there are always new challenges to tackle and innovations happening.





John Budd

Non-Voting Board Member

Committee: Charity

Phone - 214-529-8248


John is a graduate of University of Wisconsin. After school he spent 21 years in the Food service supply industry with 15 years in mid  and upper management. He has worked in the commercial roofing industry with a focus on the self-storage industry for the last 4 ½  years covering several markets for Global Roofing Company. 

John enjoys spending time with his family, wife of 18 years Angela, daughter Riley, 15, and son Cooper, 11. In his small amount of free  time, he enjoys golfing, cooking, pheasant and duck hunting, and cheering on his favorite football teams.



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Address:
P.O. Box 91, Hixson, TN 37343

info@tnssa.net

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