Kurt O’Brien is a successful entrepreneur and businessman. He has a wealth of experience in building new companies from the ground up, as well as in identifying attractive purchase opportunities and enhancing them once he brings them under his control.

Kurt began his career as a full-time commercial mortgage broker while also attending Indiana University. In just 3 years, he earned his degree at IU while at the same time helping to close over $50 million in loans while with W. Lyman Case & Company. After graduating, Kurt continued his career with Lyman and successfully closed over $500,000,000 in loans in Indianapolis and the surrounding suburbs. Kurt worked with lenders and developers to fund office buildings, apartment complexes, retail centers, and even multi-family housing.

After Lyman, Kurt moved on to become President of the Quorum Corporation, where he leveraged his expertise in mortgage banking to successfully complete the purchase of nearly 2,000 apartment units in the Midwest in 1990. While responsible for the day-to-day management of these properties, he also negotiated a contract to manage an additional 1,000 units.

Kurt sold Quorum in 1993 and began building, from scratch, what eventually would become the 18th largest self storage operation in the United States. Known as The Holding Company, Kurt purchased 43 storage properties containing more than 2,000,000 rentable square feet in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Arizona. Kurt performed all the due diligence reviews for these acquisitions, as well as arranging financing and equity contributions. He improved the appearance as well as the performance of the properties, instituting a number of operational improvements which have now become commonplace in the self-storage industry (innovative marketing, high-end property appearance and cleanliness, daily performance monitoring, etc.). After operating The Holding Company for four years, Kurt sold the business for nearly $80 million to Storage USA, and was a consultant to them for two years before founding the OB Companies.

OB Development, Inc. was the first OB entity to be formed, in 1999. Kurt began, once again, acquiring and building a self storage company, this time with stores in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Florida. Many of these properties were developed with Shurgard Storage Centers, the global self storage leader. OB Development continues to be the exclusive Shurgard partner in Indiana and Michigan, and Kurt has created other OB entities to address the varied interests and competencies of Kurt and his team.

In addition to OB Development, the OB Companies now include:

• OB Development Services – the subsidiary responsible for all non-Shurgard development, including self-storage, retail, multi-family dwellings, etc.


• OB Management Services – the entity manages the Development Services properties and will eventually expand into outside management contracts.


• OB Investment Services – this division finds investments for internal and external investors and arranges the necessary financing and equity. The strategy for OB Investments is that it will one day marry investors from all over the country with successful projects.


• OB Consulting – this company offers consulting services to businesses and real estate developers, and will soon have a full line of products for the self-storage industry.


• OB Construction – the general contracting arm of the OB Companies, OB Construction specializes in self-storage and retail construction, with over $15 million in contracts in 2003 alone.

In addition to owning the suite of OB Companies, Kurt is also a partner in a JD Byrider automobile sales franchise located in Florida.

A graduate of The George Washington University, Jason B. Jacobson is a Certified Public Accountant in Indiana and New Jersey who has extensive experience in both the accounting and real estate industries. He brings these two areas together to provide OB Companies, its investors and banking interests with sound financial guidance.

As Chief Financial Officer, Jason applies his high degree of experience in real estate and accounting in the analysis and financial statement preparation of all entities under the OB Companies umbrella. In addition to overseeing all accounting functions, Jason maintains mutually beneficial banking and investor relationships.

Prior to his service at OB Companies, Jason was the Chief Financial Officer for Equicor Companies, a locally based real estate development company with over 400,000 square feet of commercial space in their portfolio. Jason got his start in the real estate industry with Zeller Realty Corp. as an assistant property manager for Castleton Office Park, a 120-acre office park in Indianapolis with over 1.2 million square feet of net rentable space in 42 buildings occupied by approximately 200 tenants.

Prior to this engagement, Jason served as an audit manager of an Indianapolis accounting firm, specializing in real estate and construction, where he reviewed work by junior and senior staff and supervised all facets of the auditing department. Before moving to the Midwest from New York City, Jason served as a senior accountant with Friedman, Alpren & Green, LLP, a top 25 firm in Manhattan. Jason's clients included major corporate real estate holders and construction companies.

Jason is active in many professional and community organizations. He is a former president of Business Network International – Carmel Chapter, vice president and board member of the Bureau of Jewish Education and a member of the AICPA and the Indiana CPA Society.

A cum laude graduate of the University of Evansville and the Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis, Kyle has been involved in a broad range of real estate related transactions.  

Kyle came to OB Companies after spending three years with the Indianapolis based law firm of Bingham McHale LLP.  As a member of Bingham McHale’s real estate practice group, Kyle focused his practice on land planning as well as commercial and residential acquisition and development matters.  Kyle has represented national and regional companies in the acquisition, development, and sale of property across the country.  While at Bingham McHale, Kyle assisted OB in the purchase, finance, and development of real estate throughout the Midwest. 

Kyle is now responsible for all phases of development for OB.  This includes identifying potential development sites, negotiating the purchase of the real estate and financing documents, coordinating due diligence, obtaining entitlements, and drafting leases for OB’s storage facilities, retail centers, and other specialty developments.    

Jared has excelled in guiding all facets of construction projects from concept to completion in light industrial, manufacturing, warehousing, retail, service, office and residential. Through twelve years of construction management, he has lead several multi-million dollar projects such as a $2.5 million fire re-construction of an operating RV sales and repair facility and a $3 million World Headquarters first-class office building. As a Project Manager for OB Companies, he brings with him prior project management experience, extensive supervisory experience, and proficiency in on-sight inspection related to code and engineering compliance. Jared received his Bachelor’s degree in Building Construction Management from Michigan State University and has advanced toward his MBA at Baker College.

Attended the following schools and served in the Armed Forces
St. Bridget of Sweden Grammar School, Los Angeles California
St. Genevieve High School, Los Angeles California
Los Angeles Valley College
United States Air Force
A Real Estate Development professional who creates value through effective and resourceful development / construction strategies.
Over 25 years of hands-on Commercial and Residential Construction and Development experience in the private and public sectors, supervised execution of the work as well as managed development integrity in terms of Cost Schedule and overall Product Quality for Hospitals, Business Parks, Distribution Centers, Office / Retail, Self-Storage and Custom Residential.
A Licensed General Contractor in Arizona/California/Florida.
Served as the Vice President of Construction for Public Storage, for their entire U.S. Self Storage Facilities Construction Operations, also served as the Director of Construction for Shurgard Storage, Western Region, U.S.
 

As a recent graduate of the Kelley School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Business concentrating in marketing, Jessica has taken many valuable courses which cover a wide range of topics such as marketing, sales, communications, psychology, and mathematics.  She graduated with honors and has prior experience in both the residential and commercial real estate industries through a college internship and part-time employment.  She will concentrate on special projects as needed including but not limited to researching new markets to enter, producing business plans and development of promotional material.

Kerry Richard, Vice President of Operations

krichard@obcompanies.com

Kerry comes to OB Companies with more than ten years experience in the self storage industry.  Before joining OB Companies, he was a Regional Vice President for Public Storage.  Kerry excels in all facets of operations including finance, budgeting, staff development, recruiting, and acquisitions.  His strong knowledge of the self storage industry is well documented as he began his career as a District Manager and was quickly promoted to the position of Regional Vice President responsible for over 90 properties in multiple states.  Prior to his career in storage, Kerry spent six years in retail management for Champs Sports.

Kerry is responsible for all of the self storage operations for OB Companies.  He will use his past experience to bring together a top management team to maximize results.

Ken Griggs, Capital Improvements Manager

kgriggs@obcompanies.com

Ken Griggs  joined the company after more than 15 years of award-winning sales and operations experience in the Midwest.  Ken is known for his tireless work ethic and dedication to providing a first-rate renting experience for our customers. He's responsible for the general operations of all of our Simply Self Storage stores.

fwells@obcompanies.com

Flake Wells brings a wealth of project management, financial and accounting experience to the OB Companies as Senior Management Accountant.  Initially trained as a Civil and Environmental Engineer designing and building apartment complexes, shopping centers, hospitals and water and power plants, Flake cross-trained in financial management earning his MBA, with honors, from Oklahoma City University. He is a Certified Management Accountant in the States of Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Florida.

Prior to his service at OB Companies, Flake served as Senior Financial Analyst at HCA -The Healthcare Company where he oversaw annual revenue topping $800 million; as Chief Financial Officer for Sparks Petroleum Co. he managed exponential growth at times exceeding 100% per month; and as Chief Power Engineer for Prodek, Inc., a real estate development firm, he responded to the energy demands of the 1980s.

Combining physics, finance and accounting, Flake is uniquely capable of delivering strong financial results for OB Companies.

Flake is active in many professional and civic organizations having served on the boards of the Institute of Management Accountants, the environmentally friendly Glen Canyon Institute, and the American Society of Civil Engineers.