Self-storage giant Public Storage announced that it’s relocating its headquarters to Frisco from Glendale, California, appointing new leadership, and launching a fresh vision it dubs “PS4.0” as a nod to four generations of leadership since the company’s 1972 founding.

Public Storage said the move to North Texas will take advantage of talent and innovation opportunities in the region. The company plans to maintain a long-term presence in Glendale.

At the end of 2025, Public Storage, a member of the S&P 500 (NYSE: PSA), owned and/or operated 3,533 self-storage facilities located in 40 states with around 258 million net rentable square feet in the U.S. It also owned a 35% common equity interest in U.K.-based Shurgard Self Storage Limited, which owned 332 self-storage facilities located in seven Western European countries with around 18 million net rentable square feet.

Leadership transitions

The company announced a series of C-suite appointments and transitions:

• Tom Boyle, the company’s current chief financial and investment officer, has been appointed CEO, effective April 1, 2026.
• Joe Russell will be retiring from his roles as president and CEO on March 31, 2026, and will provide consulting services to the company through March 31, 2027, to support the transition
• Joe Fisher has been appointed president, chief financial officer, effective February 16, 2026. He was most recently the president, chief financial and investment officer at UDR, an S&P 500 multifamily REIT.
• Natalia Johnson, the company’s current chief administrative officer, is being promoted to president, chief digital and transformation officer.
• Chris Sambar is being promoted to president, chief operating officer and will now also oversee our PS Advantage third-party management platform.
• Ayash Basu has joined as chief revenue and marketing officer. He most recently served as a Managing Director & Partner at the Boston Consulting Group.

“It’s been an honor to lead Public Storage through a decade of transformation, accretive growth, and shareholder returns,” outgoing CEO Joe Russell said in a statement. “Tom has been a valued partner and an exceptional leader in his dual role as CFO and CIO, helping create the foundation that has driven our improved capital allocation, superior operations, and relative shareholder returns in recent years.”

“The board, the senior leadership team, and I are excited to see Tom and his team lead Public Storage into PS4.0, our powerful next era of growth,” Russell added.

Incoming CEO Tom Boyle said, “I’m deeply grateful to the board for the trust they have placed in me, and I want to sincerely thank Joe Russell for his strong leadership of Public Storage and mentorship to me and the executive team. Joe built a strong foundation for us to launch into PS4.0 with a focus on our people, our customers, our brand, our industry-leading operating platform, and our ability to scale in a fragmented sector.”

Boyle added, “Our single most important focus going forward will be per share earnings and cash flow growth resulting in accelerated shareholder returns. I believe the path to achieving that goal will be through superior customer experience and capital allocation.”

Joe Fisher said he’s joining Public Storage from the outside “because the platform and industry opportunity are extraordinary.”

“Public Storage has assembled one of the most competitive, mission-driven, and high-integrity leadership groups in real estate today—a team built on a shared ownership and fiduciary mindset, operational and capital allocation excellence, and a commitment to drive shareholder value,” Fisher added in a statement.

Board transitions

Public Storage also announced key board of trustee transitions to support the PS4.0 leadership transition:

• Shankh Mitra, current CEO of Welltower and Public Storage independent rrustee, has been elected to the role of non-executive chairman of the board effective April 1, 2026
• Ron Havner will continue to serve as a rrustee
• John Reyes will not stand for re-election at the upcoming annual meeting
• Joe Russell will retire from the Board upon his retirement as president and CEO on March 31, 2026
• Tom Boyle will join the board of trustees effective April 1, 2026
• A new investment committee of the board of trustees will be chaired by Ron Spogli, founder and chairman of Freeman Spogli & Co.

The board of trustees expressed gratitude for “the many years of leadership and partnership” from Havner, Russell, and Reyes, who have a combined 99 years in service to the shareholders of Public Storage.

“We have accomplished significant industry changing objectives over the past 40 years since I first joined Public Storage. Public Storage has an unmatched brand, operating platform, and balance sheet,” Havner said. “John Reyes has been a leader and Trustee with uncommon financial discipline, sound judgement and a deep understanding of the business. His contributions to Public Storage’s success have been invaluable, and we thank him for his years of dedicated service.

Havner added, “I especially want to thank Joe Russell for his decade of leadership resulting in leading self-storage shareholder returns over the last 1-, 3-, and 5-year periods. This transition is the culmination of several years of thoughtful succession planning at the board level, and we’re excited for Shankh, Tom and the executive team to build from here.”

Focusing on long-term growth

Shankh Mitra, who first joined the board of trustees in 2020, will assume the role of non-executive Chairman of the Board on April 1, 2026.

He currently serves as the CEO of Welltower (NYSE: WELL), where he has driven a vision, strategy, and team that have measurable outperformed the REIT industry and broader equity indices, Public Storage said.

“We’re building an exceptional team that is energized and will show up to win each day,” Mitra said in a statement. “In addition to the team, we have designed a new incentive system for Public Storage driven by relative and absolute shareholder returns.”

As the new non-executive chairman of the board, Mitra shared his perspective on how the company can best position itself to create long-term value.

“My indirect observations suggest there is too much focus on near-term fundamentals and their inflection points.” Mitra said, “However, often during the periods of unremarkable growth, great capital allocation opportunities are found. Tom and team will focus on those opportunities, be it external growth, technological advancements or talent upgrades to build the company for the long term.”

Mitra has purchased $25 million and Havner has purchased $5 million of 10-year options with a $350 per share strike price and a 6-year lock-out demonstrating their long-term commitment to and confidence in what PS4.0 will deliver to shareholders, Public Storage said.

PS4.0 vision and strategy

Public Storage said its PS4.0 vision is built on three core pillars:

PS Next: a scaled omnichannel digital-first platform, advanced data science, and exceptional in-store property managers and customer care agents, which together deliver exactly what customers need when they need it.

Capturing external growth opportunities: The PS4.0 objective is to accelerate the addition of new assets to solidify its portfolio and reinforce growth-focused operating competitive advantages for PS Next. Paul Spittle, SVP of Acquisitions, has been promoted to lead the acquisitions team, which has acquired $10 billion through accretive private transactions over the past 5 years. Spittle is tripling his deal sourcing teams, reducing transaction timelines, and infusing acquisitions’ processes with AI- and data-driven insights.

New incentive and culture of accountability: Public Storage designed a new incentive program for the executive officers beginning in 2026 that is driven by relative and absolute shareholder returns and will be extended throughout the company to prioritize shareholder outperformance. The people strategy will be to develop new capabilities and talent and raise the bar for performance with clear accountability, the company said. Gwen Montgomery has joined as chief human resources officer, most recently from Gates Corporation, to oversee the people strategy.

Boyle said, “The opportunity ahead for Public Storage has never been stronger. This company has a proven ability to outperform through cycles, deliver industry-leading margins driven by digital and AI advancement, and scale accretively in a fragmented landscape.”

“The target is clear: enhanced customer experience, winning employee culture, accelerated value creation and compounding shareholder outperformance,” he added. “I’m energized by the leadership and platform that we’re building within Public Storage to lead our industry’s next era.”

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