George and Sean have been lifelong friends, business partners since 1987 and were born in Vicenza, Italy located in the heart of the Veneto region, a region that also includes Venice, Verona, and Padua. Their company is named for the Veneto region where they were born.
Prior to starting Veneto West in 2006, George served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Intera Group Inc., the company he co-founded with Sean Venezia in 1987. In February 1997, GTCR acquired Intera as a platform company to consolidate and grow public telecommunications companies. GTCR capitalized Intera with $115 million of debt and equity used to acquire over 50 regional communications companies. Intera, with over 200 employees and 10,000 customers, generated annual revenues exceeding $50 million and EBITDA of $15 million. George served on the boards of directors of his industry’s Federal and California State trade associations. In addition to self-storage, George has been involved with the ownership and development of office, light industrial, multi-family and residential properties. George earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley in 1985, has been married to his wife Michele since 1986 and has four daughters. On weekends, you might find George surfing, mountain biking or snow skiing.
Prior to starting Veneto West, Sean served as Chief Financial Officer of Intera Group Inc., the company he co-founded with George in 1987. In February 1997, GTCR acquired Intera as a platform company to consolidate and grow public telecommunications companies. GTCR capitalized Intera with $115 million debt and equity used to acquire over 50 regional communications companies. Intera, with over 200 employees and 10,000 customers, generated annual revenues exceeding $50 million and EBITDA of $15 million. Sean served on the boards of directors of his industry’s Federal and California State trade associations. In addition to self-storage, Sean has been involved with the ownership and development of light-industrial and residential properties. Sean earned a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Santa Clara University in 1983, has been married to his wife Kappy since 1990 and is the father of two daughters and a son. Sean played college baseball at Santa Clara, captained his 4.5 USTA Men’s Tennis team to the national championship in 2006, managed Tri-Valley Babe Ruth’s 13-year-old all-star baseball team to a 3rd place finish in the 2012 Babe Ruth World Series and was awarded the Carnegie Hero Award for saving the life a high school student from a burning SUV in 2007. On weekends, you may find Sean playing tennis, snow skiing or hiking with his wife, Kappy.