Parul Butala Named President of AMERCO Real Estate Company

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Parul Butala Named President of AMERCO Real Estate Company

2026-07-22 05:06 Last Updated At：18:55

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 21, 2026--

Parul Butala has been promoted to president of AMERCO ® Real Estate Co. (AREC), the real estate arm of U-Haul ® Holding Co.

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The appointment was made on July 17.

Butala has been part of the U-Haul family since 1994. She spent many years developing her skills as a staff architect for the AREC construction group. She joined the U-Haul Risk Management team for a brief stint in the early 2000s before returning to real estate.

Since 2019, Butala has served as AREC Director of Land Use and Planning.

“I am honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as AREC President,” Butala said. “I would like to thank (U-Haul CEO) Joe Shoen for his confidence in me and for this opportunity. Over the past 30 years, I have had the privilege of learning from Joe, my colleagues, and the many talented people across our Company. Those experiences have shaped both my career and my approach to leadership.”

AMERCO Real Estate Co. was started in 1974 to manage the growing real estate portfolio and development services of U-Haul Holding Co. (then AMERCO). Today, that includes 2,431 owned-and-operated locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. U-Haul is the third largest self-storage operator in North America with 1,136,000 rentable storage units and 99 million square feet of self-storage space.

U-Haul is in its 81st year of operations as the industry leader in do-it-yourself moving and self-storage. U-Haul International, AREC and other subsidiaries of U-Haul Holding Co. are headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., where they support a network of more than 25,000 U-Haul rental locations serving millions of customers across the U.S. and Canada.

“My goal is to strengthen communication across our teams, better support our field operations, and continue improving the way we acquire, develop, and deliver properties,” Butala added. “I believe our greatest strength is our people. I look forward to listening, learning, and working alongside our team to foster a culture built on trust, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.”

Butala holds a Master of Science in Architecture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a Master of Business Administration from Arizona State University.

A resident of Chandler, Ariz., Butala has been married to Valmiki Patel, a software engineer at Intel ®, for 32 years. They have two children: daughter Riya Patel, 26, who received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University and is pursuing a PhD in cellular and molecular biology at the University of Washington; and son Shivan Patel, 23, who graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science and now works as a software engineer in the Bay Area.

Butala assumes the AREC role previously held by Matt Braccia.

About U-HAUL

Founded in 1945, U-Haul is the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers with more than 25,000 rental locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. The U-Haul app makes it easy for customers to use U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 to access trucks anytime through the self-dispatch and -return options on their smartphones with our patented Live Verify technology. Our customers’ patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to approximately 204,800 trucks, 136,600 trailers and 42,000 towing devices. U-Haul, which offers rate transparency to self-storage customers through its 1-Year Price Lock, is the third largest storage operator in North America with 1,136,000 rentable storage units and 99 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities. U-Haul is the top retailer of propane in the U.S. and the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry. Get the U-Haul app from theApp StoreorGoogle Play.

Florida's Jellyfish Museum is dedicated solely to the mesmerizing floating predators

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The floating tentacled predators pulse and swirl in hypnotic patterns in the dark museum space, lit primarily by images projected on the walls and the glowing light from the saltwater tanks.

The private Jellyfish Museum in Pompano Beach, Florida, just north of Fort Lauderdale, is believed to be the first museum in the United States dedicated solely to the translucent invertebrates, and one of the few such spaces in the world, according to the city and the museum’s founders.

It was created by Alex and Yana Yanovsky, who previously developed successful aquariums in Ukraine, including their first jellyfish museum in Kyiv. The couple left those facilities behind when they fled Ukraine following the 2022 Russian invasion, operations manager Jessica Eisenbarth said.

The space, which opened this past spring, is the couple's first aquatic attraction since immigrating to the U.S., but they'd like to expand.

“When they left Ukraine, they moved to Florida, and then they immediately wanted to share their passion here,” Eisenbarth said.

Jellyfish have survived for over 500 million years, making them older than dinosaurs and even trees. Their ancient origins are part of their allure, along with their hypnotic, pulsing movements. They have no heart or brain, and are made up primarily of water, giving them a translucent look.

Yana Yanovsky came up with the idea for the jellyfish museum after noticing how popular the jellyfish were at their other aquariums.

“Jellyfish are some of the most resilient creatures on Earth. While they lack a brain, they maintain a simple nerve net that allows them to respond to their environment,” Yana said in a statement provided by the city. “Their movement is mesmerizing, almost meditative, and they play an important role in marine ecosystems.”

Monty Graham, director of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, said he’s not surprised someone made a space dedicated specifically to jellyfish. He credits the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California with kicking off the popularity of jellyfish exhibits at aquariums all over the world. Monterey Bay Aquarium began displaying jellyfish in temporary exhibits in 1985 and opened a permanent gallery in 1996.

“Jellyfish are cool, they’re things that people don’t get to see up close unless they’re scuba diving,” Graham said. “So here was this opportunity, in a controlled environment, very beautiful settings. It clicked all the buttons and checked all the boxes, and it was a very good, positive thing.”

The nearly 10,000-square-foot (900 square meters) Jellyfish Museum houses roughly 20 unique species of jellyfish found in Florida waters and other parts of the world. Different species can be rotated through the museum's 21 tanks. Some current occupants include Japanese sea nettles, moon jellyfish, spotted jellies and upside-down jellyfish, the last of which can be found among Florida's mangrove swamps.

The jellyfish are acquired through licensed aquaculture partners, according to the city.

The space is designed to exude calm and tranquility, general manager Iryna Pelypkanych said. It was converted from a former Wells Fargo bank branch with about $100,000 in community redevelopment grants from the city of Pompano Beach. Guides teach people about the role jellyfish play in marine ecosystems and the importance of protecting them.

“The biggest idea here is to leave people with the feeling that they know something more about the population of jellyfish,” Pelypkanych said. “Because so far, we know around 4,000 different species that can be called jellyfish.”