Jonathan Kemper

For more than forty years Jonathan Kemper has helped lead multiple historic preservation initiatives throughout the U.S. and has had a life-long interest in architecture. Jonathan received an A.B. degree from Harvard University and an M.B.A. degree from Harvard’s Graduate School of Business Administration. Professionally, Jonathan served for many years as Vice Chair of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and is currently Chair Emeritus of Commerce Bank (Kansas City). He serves as a director on Commerce’s board and as Co-Trustee, with Commerce Bank, of the William T. Kemper Foundation. Prior to joining Commerce, he held various positions in the financial industry in New York and Chicago, including positions with Citicorp, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and M. A. Schapiro and Company. He has also served on the Federal Advisory Council to the Federal Reserve Board.

Jonathan is a former board member and Chair of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and has served on the boards of the Truman Library, the Jackson County Historical Society, the Kansas City Public Library and numerous other non-profit organizations, including Pembroke Hill Country Day School, the Hall Center for the Humanities, the Civic Council Kansas City and the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at the Villa I Tatti in Florence. He has also served on the boards of Tower Properties and the Smithsonian Institution. At the Kansas City Public Library, Jonathan led efforts that raised over $50 million to fund redevelopment of the former First National Bank building on Tenth Street in Kansas City into what is now the city’s Central Library. The award-winning project was internationally recognized as one of the outstanding examples of adaptive reuse in the U.S.

Jonathan and his wife Nancy Lee live in Kansas City and have three children.