Adam Karnes

By Alejandra Zilak

n any industry, there are many personalities. Specifically in self-storage, there are those who become legends (Anne Ballard). Those who have a radio station (Harry Sleighel), and those who overcome unimaginable hardships and become successful as an author and podcaster (AJ Osborne). And there are people who are so endearing, you immediately want to become friends with them. That’s the case of Adam Karnes, senior vice president at The BSC Group. He is relatively young, yet he is so good and enthusiastic about what he does that it became absolutely necessary to feature him in an installment of “Who’s Who in Self-Storage.”

It’s clear he loves life. No matter the topic—his childhood, family, career, hobbies—he talks about all of it in an upbeat, appreciative way; and you can’t help but get excited about all of it as well. You want to hear more and learn about a person who’s a refreshing presence in the industry and in life in general.

Karnes was born and raised in a little town north of Milwaukee called Cedarburg. He’s the oldest of two brothers and one of many close cousins. “I had an awesome upbringing,” he says keenly. “We’re a big Italian family, and we spent a lot of time together—dinner, vacations, birthday parties, and holiday celebrations with extended family.” He also spent quality time with friends, riding bikes and hanging out in coffee shops playing Scrabble.

He describes being nerdy in a very relatable way. “I played a lot of video games, and I loved skateboarding. I also tried playing a lot of sports at school—hockey, lacrosse, and basketball, but I was never very good at any of them,” he says with a laugh.

He attended public school until fifth grade, but his parents noticed that he wasn’t as focused on his studies, so they enrolled him in a private school, the University School of Milwaukee. “My mom wanted me in smaller classrooms, and it actually turned out really well. It made me realize I enjoyed math and science, and it reinvigorated my love for reading. It was really a great experience and I feel very blessed that my parents cared enough about my education that they put me somewhere I could thrive academically.”

He credits this experience as the reason why he got into the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “I fell in love with the campus as soon as I visited it,” he recalls. “It was really fun, too, because those were good years for the school’s football, basketball, and hockey teams. It was great being at a Big Ten school, and I loved showing my friends and family around and taking them to Badger tailgates when they would come visit.”

While there, he joined Kappa Sigma. “I didn’t see myself as a fraternity person when I first went to college, but I went to a few parties and frankly had a blast. The fraternity showed me a good balance between having fun and being a serious student. To this day, those guys remain some of my best friends.”

It was during his college years that Karnes started developing his strong work ethic. He worked several jobs while going to school, including at the Kohl Center, where he was part of a crew that would convert the arena from basketball to hockey and occasionally for concerts. “It was so much fun. I got to work with people from so many walks of life.” He also worked at various restaurants, both in the kitchen and as a server and cook. “I kept pretty busy and worked the whole time I was at school. I was lucky to be in Madison, which was affordable as an in-state student, and I was able to pay for my books and rent.”

Over the course of his studies, he spent two summers working at Northwestern Mutual, where Karnes sold insurance. And while he realized early on that it wasn’t a career path he was going to follow, he appreciated the valuable skills he was learning along the way. “I had to call people and have difficult conversations about what would happen to their family if they weren’t around. It taught me a lot of what I do now as a mortgage broker, [like] asking difficult questions to understand what they’re working through. Even though it’s a totally different industry, I value that experience because it took me out of my comfort zone. I don’t think I fully appreciated it at the time, but I look back on it really fondly because it really set me up well.”

As his college years went on, Karnes still wasn’t sure what to do after graduation. The Real Estate program at UW Madison is ranked among the top in the country, so he decided to take a real estate course. “I was just going through the motions, being a finance major, and when I took that class, I fell in love with the idea of working in that space as a developer, an appraiser, a banker, whatever.” This fork in the road led him to become a double major, and he graduated with degrees in both finance and real estate.

Karnes interviewed for numerous jobs his senior year, eventually accepting an offer to work at DBRS in Chicago, where he stayed for almost two years. “It was investment banking hours, without the investment banking salary,” he says through laughter. “It was really intense working 90 hours a week. I’d go home, hang out for a few minutes, go to bed, wake up, and do it all over again. It was my intro into my credit training, working on the debt and finance side of real estate. It taught me to underwrite, and what I do now every day, I learned on some level at DBRS.”

He thought he’d work there long term, but serendipity had other plans. His boss at the time, Erin, had a cool husband with whom he got along really well. “We had similar interests, and we’re both big fans of the Grateful Dead; and with his wife’s permission, he called me and said they were looking to hire an analyst, and he thought I’d be a good fit for the role.”

The caller was Shawn Hill, principal and founding member of The BSC Group, a company that provides commercial real estate financing advisory solutions. It was an interesting proposition, but one that made Karnes a bit nervous, since he did have a good job and a steady paycheck, and jumping ship to work at The BSC Group meant working in areas he wasn’t well acquainted with. “It was a pivotal time in my life,” he says. “Shawn pointed out that I was still in my 20s and didn’t have a family yet, to come over and try it, and if I didn’t like it, that’d be fine, but that he thought I could be good at it.”

Even though The BSC Group works in many areas of commercial real estate, Karnes’ focus was primarily the self-storage industry. While it wasn’t a vertical that he had foreseen himself in, he’s thoroughly grateful this is where he landed. “It’s an industry I appreciate so much. The people are so kind and generally very humble. You meet individuals with portfolios that are worth a lot of money, and you really wouldn’t know it. Our clients are really special people, many who will be lifelong friends of mine because they genuinely care. They ask how my family’s doing, and I really appreciate them.”

In addition to the people, Karnes is fascinated by how much the industry has evolved so quickly. “When I first started, other people I knew in real estate would be like, ‘Wow, you’re in self-storage. I didn’t know that was a big thing.’ But fast forward to six years later (around 2018 and 2019), and they all wanted to get into it. It’s a credit to our principles. They recognize that this is a great industry to be in. It’s now one of the most talked about property types.”

He also enjoys working on the mortgage side. “There’s always a problem to solve. Maybe not the same way as a doctor or nurse, but I’m helping people, working directly with them.” He also highlights that he enjoys working at a small organization where he gets to wear many hats. “When you look at an org that’s only five people, being 20 percent of what we do means really having an impact, helping progress the business, add value, and grow the company. I’m so proud of all the work we’ve done and the people we’ve helped. It’s the ethos of what we do. We’re helping people grow their business and set their families up for generational wealth.”

He’s also appreciative that his work enables him to have a good work/life balance. “We’re hard workers, but we also enjoy our time with our families.” And he’s thankful of working with Shawn Hill and Devin Huber, the other principal and founding member of The BSC Group. “They’ve shown me that work is important, but so is taking care of yourself, spending time with family, and creating memories.”

Besides being committed to his career, Karnes is very much a family person. This is clear when he talks about his upbringing in his big, fun family as well as his wife, Catherine, and their daughter, Esme.

“Cat is wonderful, such a hard worker and so smart. She’s an awesome mom and she could probably do what I do 10 times better. She’s a wonderful life partner.”

When asked about his proudest achievement, he’s quick to answer. “Being a dad to my daughter. She’s only two and a half and she already talks in full sentences and full paragraphs. She’s going to be smarter than me by the time she’s 10.”

He’s also extremely fond of his brother, Joe, who lives in Denver. “He’s my little brother, and even though he’s six years younger than me, I really look up to him.”

And we most definitely need to mention both of his grandfathers. “My grandpa Bob (Karnes) is a long-time math teacher at the local high school, and he also owned a bar and was a driving instructor. He was the one who taught me how to drive. He’s the one who instilled in me the love of math. He was a teacher and found other ways to supplement his income. Very smart and diligent investor.”

On the other side, his grandpa Dom Tirabassi is another one of the biggest inspirations in his life. “He’s 91 and he still works. Real estate guy, too. Worked in construction for a long time. He instilled in me that you are going to get run over a little bit if you don’t stand up for yourself or if you don’t know what you’re talking about. He also taught me to always treat people with kindness. He often sponsored underprivileged kids to go to high school, and it’s because of him that I know the importance of keeping busy and to always exercise your mind.”

He adores his parents too. “When I was growing up, I had really good mentors and role models in my parents, but when you’re 18, you’re not thinking about that. But now that I’m a dad, I see it, and I’m so thankful for them.” And since it’s not every day that someone gets to be featured in a Who’s Who in the industry series, he wants to make sure we also mention his great uncle. “Shoutout to my Uncle Bill, another businessman in my life. He’s the family member who lives closest to me; and when I was growing up, he’d pay me to come over and do chores and help around the house. He had sheep and I’d help him clean the barn, mow the lawn, and shovel snow. He’d then ask me how I was managing the money, always reminding me to save some. He also taught me that family always comes first and that you have to be excellent at what you do.”

These are two lessons he’s applied well in life, including at Wisconsin’s Fall 50K relay race, which he ran with his wife and her cousins. “I ran 12 and a half miles for my part of the relay. We came in third out of almost 500 teams,” he says proudly, admitting he counts the experience as one of his biggest accomplishments. “It’s funny how I played so many contact sports as a kid, and I wasn’t good at any of them, yet I started running as an adult, and it turns out I’m really fast!” And that’s not hyperbole. He can run 10 miles at a seven-minute pace.

He loves his family. He loves his job. He loves running, hunting, fishing, biking, and cooking. He also loves going to Packers football games and concerts, especially the Grateful Dead and Phish. “I’ve been to 50 Phish shows,” he says unabashedly. What’s more, Karnes is a prolific reader, counting among his favorite books nonfiction works like “The Comfort Crisis” by Michael Easter, suspenseful thrillers by Stephen King, and dystopian novels like Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrug.” And because he’s so enthusiastically supportive of those around him, he read one of his clients’ books, “Minus 148 Degrees” by Art Davidson. “Shawn told me ‘You gotta read this book,’ and it’s one of my all-time favorites!”

He loves to travel internationally. “Rome is a favorite. My brother did a study abroad program there, and I loved having him showing us around. He’s been to 47 states so far. “I still have to visit Alaska, Maine, and South Dakota.”

When reflecting on his life, all you hear is gratefulness. “I’m proud I took the leap to get into the industry,” he says. “Partial credit to Shawn and Devin convincing me, but I had faith in myself, and it’s paid so many dividends. I’ve been able to take care of my family, and I’m very pleased and honored to be part of an industry held in such high regard, and with people I think the world of. When I made the leap, it wasn’t as clear how good it was going to be, and it’s been so good.”