Biography

Jack Kemp was Founder and Chairman of Kemp Partners. From 1993 to 2004, he served as Co-Director of the public policy institute Empower America, which he founded with former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Jeane Kirkpatrick. Both in and out of public office, Jack Kemp was a major contributor in nurturing democratic capitalism not only in the U.S., but throughout the world. Mr. Kemp, who ran for President in 1988, gained further prominence in the national spotlight in 1996, when he was selected to be the Republican Party’s candidate for Vice President of the United States. Prior to co-founding Empower America, Mr. Kemp served four years as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H.W. Bush and proved to be one of our nation’s most innovative leaders in that role. Before his appointment to the Cabinet, Mr. Kemp represented the Buffalo area and Western New York for 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Kemp served on a number of corporate boards and traveled extensively in the U.S. and around the world for lectures as well as business. He was a nationally syndicated columnist focusing on economic issues, trade and foreign policy, while also appearing on a variety of political talk shows. He was also the Chair for Habitat for Humanity’s “More than Houses” campaign, served as a Board member for Howard University, as well as for the Schools of Public Policy at Pepperdine and UCLA. Mr. Kemp passed away on May 2, 2009 after a battle with cancer.