FEDESSA Team

FEDESSA is made up of 3 members of staff led by the current CEO, Rennie Schafer.

Please click on the image below for further information on each member of our team.

Rennie Schafer

CEO

Rennie is the current CEO of FEDESSA and the Self Storage Association UK, having previously been the CEO of the Australasian Self Storage Association for over 9 years. Rennie has extensive knowledge of the self storage industry across the world, from the developing Asian markets through to the birthplace of self storage in the USA. He has over 27 years of association management experience, 21 at CEO level. Rennie has an MBA from Deakin University and completed the Oxford University High performance leadership programme.

Paola Barraza

Events and Membership Manager

Paola joined FEDESSA in April 2016 in the key role of membership servcies officer. Over the years her role has evolved and today she helps the different national self storage association with their communication towards their members and the organisation of the different local self storage events.

Before joining the association she worked almost 10 years in the marketing division of Shurgard Self Storage in Europe. She likes communicating in different languages and she looks forward to learn new languages like Italian and Portuguese. With both industry knowledge, marketing training and linguistic talents she is a valuable addition to the FEDESSA team.

She loves listening to music, good food, spending time with her family and she enjoys travelling.

Maxime Lagrillière

Membership Services Officer

Maxime joined FEDESSA in 2025 as Membership Services Officer, bringing a diverse background in administration, education, and entrepreneurship. Her career began in supply chain support, where she quickly grew into a role with international responsibilities across the EMEA region. She later pursued her passion for languages and people by working as a language teacher and even running her own coffee bar in Lier. Her unique combination of operational experience, strong communication skills, and hands-on mentality makes her a valuable asset to the team. Multilingual and highly organized, Maxime supports FEDESSA’s member associations across Europe and plays a key role in local and regional events.

Our objectives:

Provide a common voice and a coordinated message for the industry to international and European legislative bodies (European Commission, European Parliament, Council) as well as standardisation bodies (CEN, ISO).
Position the self storage industry as a responsible partner and business sector consulted by European and national authorities.
Ensure that the regulatory frameworks, both at EU and national levels, allow the continuous expansion of the self storage industry in Europe under favourable conditions.
Anticipate regulatory developments, analyse their business impact and influence policy outcomes.
Advise national associations and their members on actions to take on European issues and, when appropriate, co-ordinate the actions of national associations at a European level.
Promote the European Customer Standard for self storage.
Provide advice and support to national associations (sometimes direct to their members) to avoid crises and, when necessary, to deal with them.
Provide advice and support to national associations (sometimes direct to their members) in negotiations with national and local authorities.
Support the development of national associations (whilst continuing to encourage countries where the industry is starting up to form their own national association).
Provide a forum for exchange of relevant national developments with possible cross-border implications.
Encourage and develop, wherever possible, common values, policies, definitions, messages and guidelines using international working groups.
Collate and distribute statistical information and data on the industry.
Define and promote the industry in Europe.
When appropriate, act as an interface with the relevant EU NGOs and consumer associations (ANEC, BEUC).