David W. Kemper is chairman and chief executive officer of Commerce Bancshares Inc., a $14 billion regional bank holding company based in Missouri.
Kemper’s first career assignment came in 1975, with a two-year post with New York-based Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. He started with Commerce in 1978.
Kemper graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1972. He received a master of arts degree in English literature from Oxford University in 1974 and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1976. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Kemper is a director of Tower Properties Company and Ralcorp Holdings Inc., and serves as an advisory director for Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Bunge North America. He is a current Trustee and past chairman of the Board of Trustees of Washington University and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Kemper is a board member of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the Stanford Business School Advisory Board, a member of the Committee on University Resources and the Task Force on Academic Resources at Harvard University. He is the past president of the Federal Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve. He is also chairman of Civic Progress in St. Louis.