John H. Gilliland is the founder and CEO of The Investment Real Estate Group of Companies (IREGC), including Investment Real Estate, LLC, Investment Real Estate Management, LLC, Investment Real Estate Construction, LLC and Moove In Self Storage.
Mr. Gilliland is a Pennsylvania native with roots in the State College area. He graduated from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. During his tenure in California with The Hanes Company and Sperry Van Ness, he specialized in selling multi-family and investment real estate properties. Mr. Gilliland returned to his home state to work in the commercial real estate field for Bennett Williams in York, PA and High Associates in Lancaster, PA.
Realizing the great need for a specialist in the growing self storage industry, Mr. Gilliland founded the brokerage firm of Investment Real Estate, LLC, in 1998. Since that time, IRE has brokered over 500 self storage transactions with a total sales volume exceeding over 1 billion dollars. The brokerage firm is recognized as the leader in self storage brokerage. His firm serves the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
In 2000, Mr. Gilliland established Investment Real Estate Management, LLC, a firm that provides self storage clients with professional fee-based management services. At its peak, the company with 87 employees managed over fifty properties in an eight-state area and was the 12th largest self storage property management firm nationally. In 2010, the third-party management contracts were sold to its two key employees.
In 2004, Investment Real Estate Construction, LLC was established to help clients through the design, permitting, and construction of their self storage projects. To date, IREC has built over two million square feet of self storage.
Mr. Gilliland owns and operates more than 60 self storage facilities in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Iowa.
Mr. Gilliland served as President of the Pennsylvania Self Storage Association from 2002–2006 and currently is a member of the Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and Northeast Self Storage Associations.
He was elected to the National Board of Directors of the Self Storage Association located in Washington D.C. in 2003 and served as Chairman of the Board in 2007. In 2017 he served as Chairman of the SSA Foundation Board. Mr. Gilliland was inducted into the PASSA Hall of Fame in 2018 as a member of the inaugural class. In 2020, Mr. Gilliland received the great honor of being inducted into the National Self Storage Association Hall of Fame. He is a PRO (Participating Regional Operator) and serves on the PRO Advisory Committee for NSA (National Storage Affiliates).
Mr. Gilliland is a member of Vistage, a national organization of Chief Executive Officers and is actively involved in the local Harrisburg – York Chapter. He also served as past Chair of the Pennsylvania Board of the Volunteers of America, was actively involved as an adult leader in the Boy Scouts of America, and is a member of Rotary International.
