StorageAhead, a provider of online-marketing services for the self-storage industry, has named Dirk Wakeham as its new CEO and a member of its board of directors, effective Sept. 10. Wakeham has spent the last 20 years leading technology-enabled service companies focused on real estate. He previously served as president of RealPage, a provider of software as a service (SaaS) solutions for the rental-housing industry. During his five years there, Wakeham led key aspects of the business, gaining a reputation as a trusted and collaborative leader, and helping the business generate more than $300 million in revenue, according to a StorageAhead press release.
Prior to RealPage, Wakeham was founder and CEO of LeasingDesk, a provider of risk-mitigation solutions for rental housing that was acquired by RealPage in April 2007. Wakeham founded LeasingDesk in 2000 after a 14-year career at Western National Group, a diversified apartment-investment, -management and -development firm in Irvine, Calif.
“Dirk brings a strong record of product leadership, enterprise SaaS experience, and an excellent understanding of the needs of our industry,” said Dan Miller, StorageAhead’s founder and president. “We share a common vision of delivering the first comprehensive cloud-based marketing-automation, point-of-sale, and facility-management platform for self-storage brands of all sizes.”
“I’m excited to be joining StorageAhead at this point in the company’s lifecycle,” Wakeham said. “I look forward to bringing the company to the next level and addressing the full platform of needs of all store owners, both large and small.”
StorageAhead is a wholly owned subsidiary of Red Nova Labs, a Web-development and marketing agency. StorageAhead’s online-marketing support services include StorageFront.com, an online directory of self-storage facilities, and WebWorks, a Web-design and marketing service for larger operators. The company launched a cloud-based management software called StorEdge earlier this year.
