A native of Atlanta Georgia, Kemp put down roots in Memphis upon graduating from Rhodes College in 1996 with a BA in History and was inducted into Phi Alpha Theta, the International History Honor Society. In 2002, working his way through business school, he earned his MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, one of the top business schools in the nation.
A Senior Vice President in one of the most respected and successful commercial real estate firms in Memphis, Commercial Advisors, Kemp specializes providing best-of-class business real estate advisory services and serves as an advisor to CEOs, COOs, business owners, not-for-profits, and families, both locally and globally. He also serves as President and CEO of Commercial Advisors sister company, Commercial Alliance Management (CAM), which provides leasing and property management services to corporations and commercial real estate investors. CAM's portfolio is over 10,000,000 million square feet. He is consistently one of the top producing commercial real estate brokers in the Memphis region. Both firms are affiliated with the world's largest private global real estate firm, Cushman & Wakefield.
Kemp's passion for the community has led him to serve on the Board of the National Civil Rights Museum and the Emerge Memphis Business Incubator. He is also a former member of the Phoenix Club of Memphis - a fraternal organization that raises money for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis. While earning his MBA at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Kemp founded the Phoenix Club of Nashville, which now rivals the Memphis organization in membership and fundraising. He is also a former board member of the Riverfront Development Corporation and was a founding member of Mpact Memphis, and the first Chairman of the "Leadership Pillar", where he was successful in obtaining prestigious non-profit and governmental board positions for diverse Mpact members. In 2001, at the age of 27, he was named to the Memphis Business Journal's "Top 40 Under 40" for community and business achievements.
Kemp currently serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee, Chairman of the Capital Improvements Budget Committee, Vice-Chair of the Economic Development, Tourism & Technology Committee, and also serves on the Education committee, MLG&W committee, and Public Services & Neighborhoods committee. Kemp also serves as the Council liaison to the Airport Authority and the Industrial Development Board's Pilot Evaluation Committee.
Kemp has proven his passion for education by serving on the Board of Directors of Partners in Public Education and Kemp has invested his time by serving some of our most vulnerable and precious assets - the kids of Hope House, where he served as a board member. Hope House was founded by the Junior League of Memphis and is a day care and early childhood education center for kids that are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. From his work at PIPE and Hope House, he learned first hand the importance of parental involvement in our schools and the importance of early childhood education.
The immediate past Chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party, Kemp is passionate about the political process and the need to get good people in public office. While Chairman, Kemp focused on electing ethical and effective men and women to office while smashing fundraising records and making outreach a key focus of the party.
Because of his fusion of leadership in business and politics, Kemp was one out of eight, out of an applicant pool of over six hundred rising political leaders, to visit China in 2004 for the American Council of Young Political Leaders 25th Anniversary Exchange between the US and China.
Married to the former Anne McGrew, they have a young son, Kemp, Jr. and a daughter, Elizabeth Campbell. The Conrad's are active members of Second Presbyterian Church.
Events:
Public Safety Town Hall Meeting Hosted By Mayor Pro Tem Lowery and Councilman Conrad Sept. 3 (pdf)