Meet The Team

Bret Durfee
CEO

Bret has over 30 years of financial management and investment experience, most of which has been in the self storage industry. Bret’s introduction to the Self Storage Industry came in 1999 when he joined Storage USA, then a public REIT, as Senior Director of Financial Planning and Analysis. In that position he and his work group were responsible for earnings projections, the development of a disposition strategy, valuation and selection of assets considered for sale, and strategic decision support reporting and analysis. A year prior to the sale of Storage USA to Extra Space Storage, Bret moved into an acquisitions role. Bret was Vice President of Acquisitions at Extra Space Storage for 8 years where he was directly involved in the acquisition of over $650mm of self storage assets.

In 2013, Bret started “Get it Right Financial, LLC”, a consulting company focused on self storage development feasibility and transaction advisory. Bret’s consulting assignments primarily focused on self storage development feasibility and also included acquisition and development transactional work. In 2015, Bret and his capital partners formed Wasatch Storage Partners.
Prior to joining Storage USA, Bret spent 11 years in various Financial Planning and Analysis roles at Fedex.

Bret holds a BA in Business Administration from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Utah.

bdurfee@wasatchstoragepartners.com

Scott Wyckoff
President & Chief Development Officer

Scott Wyckoff has been involved in the Real Estate Development and Construction business for 20 years. He worked with Extra Space Storage from 2008 to 2015 in different capacities: Vice President of Development, Consultant, and Director of Redevelopment. While at Extra Space, he created the Redevelopment and Expansion Program that is currently being executed, the company’s specifications manual and was integral in the development of their “Purchase at Certificate of Occupancy” program.

Prior to joining Extra Space he managed the Development and Entitlement group for Eagle Meadows Management, a private firm based out of California with over $1 Billion in assets. He has also owned and operated his own development and construction firm, Woods Development Corporation, focused on projects in the Southeast.

Scott holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Brigham Young University, and has completed Graduate work in Geography, with an Urban Planning emphasis at Brigham Young University and the University of Southern Mississippi.

swyckoff@wasatchstoragepartners.com

Nathan Bennett
Chief Investment Officer

Nathan Bennett most recently served as Vice President in the self-storage group at Crow Holdings Capital and sat on the investment committee for the CHC Self-Storage Fund. Nathan previously spent two years at CHC as a financial analyst from 2008 to 2010 and rejoined the firm’s industrial team in 2014 in an asset management and acquisitions role. Prior to returning to CHC, Nathan served as a development associate with the Forestar Group from 2010 – 2013 and as a finance associate with Lincoln Property Company from 2013-2014. Nathan received a B.B.A. degree in Real Estate Finance from Southern Methodist University in 2008.

nbennett@wasatchstoragepartners.com

Ray Wariner
Controller

Ray has over 20 years of real estate, accounting and finance experience. Ray worked as a senior financial analyst with American Stores during a time when $1 Billion a year was being deployed for new stores and he helped develop and roll out a centralized ROI program for the company. Subsequently he joined Extra Space Storage where he worked in various capacities in the development department. Several years before Extra Space got out of the development business, Ray was responsible for sourcing storage sites in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. During his last year at Extra Space, he sourced over $30 Million in new storage development projects along the west coast. Prior to joining Wasatch Storage partners in 2016, he was a corporate controller for FC Organizational Products. At Wasatch Storage partners, Ray is able to apply his finance and accounting expertise to administer proper budgeting, reporting, and treasury functions that arise during and after the development process. He is also instrumental in seeing to it that the company stays GAAP compliant so lenders and others can rely on the financial data.

Ray has a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Finance and a Master’s Degree in Accounting — both from Utah State University.

rwariner@wasatchstoragepartners.com

Justin Barnes
Director of Construction and Design

Justin Barnes has been involved in the real estate and construction industry for more than 15 years. He has worked in various capacities ranging from project superintendent, project manager and general contractor. Justin has managed and developed several commercial and industrial projects throughout Utah’s Wasatch Front, primarily focusing on office warehouse flex space.

Prior to his role at Wasatch Storage Partners, Justin managed several high profile capital improvement projects for the University of Utah as a project manager.

Justin holds a Bachelor’s Degree and is currently pursuing a Master’s of Real Estate Development – both from the University of Utah.