The Automation Imperative: AI Meets Real Estate in 10 Federal's Expansion

RALEIGH, N.C. – October 05, 2026 – The commercial real estate sector has long been defined by its physical permanence—bricks, mortar, and the people who manage them. But a quiet revolution is taking place in the self-storage industry, one that threatens to upend traditional property management entirely. 10 Federal, a Raleigh-based technology-driven real estate operator, has officially formalized a powerhouse executive leadership team, signaling an aggressive new phase of national growth. By poaching top-tier operational talent from legacy real estate investment trusts (REITs) and elevating its proprietary artificial intelligence infrastructure, the company is bridging the gap between Silicon Valley proptech and institutional real estate.

The restructuring, effective September 28, places seasoned veterans at the helm of a platform that already operates 131 fully automated properties across 15 states. Geoff Hayth has been named President and Chief Customer Experience Officer, Beau Agnello joins as Chief Operating Officer, and Brian Oakley has been promoted to Chief Technology Officer. Together with Chief A.I. Officer Christopher Taylor, appointed earlier this year, this newly minted C-suite is tasked with scaling a remote-managed model that relies on predictive analytics, drone security, and AI-driven property auditing rather than on-site human managers.

For industry observers, the formation of this executive team is more than just a corporate milestone; it is a clear indicator that unmanned, AI-driven real estate operations are transitioning from a niche experiment to a mainstream institutional asset class.

Poaching for Scale: Merging Institutional Pedigree with Proptech

To understand the ambition behind the firm's expansion, one only needs to look at the pedigrees of its new executives. The organization is actively recruiting leadership from the very legacy operators its technology aims to disrupt. Beau Agnello, the newly appointed Chief Operating Officer, brings over 14 years of self-storage operating experience across public REIT and private equity-backed platforms. Most recently, Agnello served as COO at Go Store It, where he oversaw a massive expansion from roughly 100 properties to more than 200 across 27 states. This included navigating the complex 2024 merger with Snapbox Self Storage, which combined more than 10 million square feet under a single platform.

Agnello's background at traditional giants, including his foundational years as a Division Vice President at Extra Space Storage, provides the operational muscle required to scale rapidly. "Most operators say their people are the key to their success, but very few use technology to actually put their best people in front of the customer every time," said Agnello. "10 Federal is the exception. The automation here isn't a pilot program, it's business. My job is to take that platform and scale it, and I don't think there is a better place in self-storage to do that right now."

This sentiment is echoed by Co-CEO Brad Minsley, who, alongside co-founder Cliff Minsley, is taking a more active role in day-to-day operations during this critical growth phase. "Geoff has been part of 10 Federal's story for years, as a board member, as the leader who built DaVinci Lock into a platform used across the industry, and as one of the clearest thinkers we know on what customers actually want from a storage experience," Minsley noted. "The timing is intentional. We are entering a phase of tremendous growth, and we need the right people in the right seats ahead of what is to come."

By pairing Agnello's institutional scaling experience with Hayth's customer-centric technology background—Hayth also spent eight years at Extra Space Storage before leading the DaVinci Lock platform—a clear blueprint for rapid, tech-enabled acquisitions is being drawn.

The Unmanned Frontier: Can Algorithms Replace On-Site Management?

At the heart of this strategy is a proprietary automated management platform that challenges the conventional wisdom of commercial real estate. Since acquiring its first facility in 2015, the operator has pioneered a remote-managed model that systematically replaces human on-site tasks with digital and robotic alternatives. This includes automated access control systems, AI-powered voice and customer service agents, and drone-based security protocols.

The crown jewel of this tech stack is DaVinci Lock, an access control system founded internally and led by Hayth. The platform has seen explosive adoption, currently securing one out of every six storage facilities nationwide. This widespread market penetration not only provides a lucrative revenue stream but also serves as a massive data-gathering tool to refine predictive analytics.

"We built an industry leading operating platform, and we are primed and ready to grow quickly as we enter this next phase," said Hayth, emphasizing the dual mandate of his role as both President and Chief Customer Experience Officer. "I worked alongside Beau at Extra Space, and I know exactly how capable he is as both an operator and a leader. He isn't joining 10 Federal to maintain what we've built. He's joining to multiply it."

Multiplying that platform falls heavily on the shoulders of Brian Oakley, the newly promoted Chief Technology Officer. Oakley previously served as Vice President of Technology at Realterm, where he orchestrated a firm-wide digital transformation as assets under management ballooned from $1 billion to $12 billion. Now, working alongside Chief A.I. Officer Christopher Taylor, Oakley is tasked with industrializing these AI capabilities across a rapidly expanding footprint.

"Every product and platform decision we make gets measured against three things: does it improve the customer experience, does it make the operation more efficient, and does it create greater value for our investors?" Oakley explained. "We believe the best technology should accomplish all three. My job as CTO is to make sure that remains true as we grow."

This technological foundation allows for the acquisition and operation of facilities in secondary and tertiary markets where traditional, labor-heavy management models would compress profit margins. By removing the overhead of on-site staff and relying on centralized, AI-driven customer support, higher risk-adjusted returns can be extracted from the real estate portfolio.

Beyond the Storage Unit: Exporting Automation to Retail Real Estate

While the self-storage industry serves as the proving ground for this automated model, recent acquisition activity suggests a much broader ambition. In addition to opening new ground-up Class A storage facilities in Georgia and Texas, and acquiring over 2,600 units in the Dallas-Fort Worth exurbs, the firm has quietly entered the retail real estate sector. The recent acquisition of the Eric Lane Shopping Center in Burlington, North Carolina, alongside a secondary retail asset in Fort Worth, Texas, marks a pivotal inflection point in its trajectory.

This diversification raises a critical question for the future of commercial real estate: Can the unmanned, automated management model that revolutionized self-storage be seamlessly exported to adjacent asset classes like retail strip centers?

Managing retail properties traditionally requires intensive tenant relations, complex lease negotiations, and constant on-site maintenance oversight. However, by deploying the same ecosystem of AI property auditing, predictive maintenance analytics, and virtual tenant communication portals used in storage facilities, the goal is to drastically reduce the operating expenses associated with retail management.

Commercial real estate analysts are watching this crossover closely. As one industry property management analyst noted, the implications are vast. "When you remove the on-site property manager and automate the security and maintenance workflows, the margin profile of a retail strip center changes entirely. The question has always been whether the technology can handle the complexity of retail tenant relations. If a self-storage operator has cracked that code, the broader commercial real estate market is in for a massive disruption."

This strategic pivot illustrates exactly how innovation at the intersection of technology and physical infrastructure is shaping local economies. By lowering the operational costs of strip malls, automated management could theoretically stabilize rents for small businesses and revitalize neglected retail centers in suburban markets. It is a forward-thinking application of artificial intelligence that moves beyond digital screens and directly impacts the physical spaces where communities operate.

As the newly formed executive team prepares for a wave of third-party management contracts and multi-asset acquisitions, the real estate industry is being forced to take notes. The traditional model of property management is being rewritten in real-time, replaced by algorithms, drones, and a C-suite that views real estate not just as physical land, but as a platform for technological scale.