Kemper Corporation is a Chicago-based insurance holding company. It focuses on specialty personal and commercial auto insurance, plus individual life insurance. It serves customers across the United States mainly through independent agents and brokers.

Website: kemper.com

Head office address: 200 East Randolph Street, Suite 3300, Chicago, Illinois 60601

Founded: 1990, as Unitrin, Inc.; adopted the Kemper name in 2011

Company type: public company (NYSE: KMPR)

Business focus: specialty property and casualty insurance and life insurance

Regions served: United States

History of Kemper Corporation

The Kemper name dates back to 1912. James S. Kemper founded Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company in Chicago that year to insure lumber workers. The corporate entity known today as Kemper Corporation has a separate, more recent history. It began in 1990 in Delaware as Unitrin, Inc., a spinoff of Teledyne. Other key milestones include:

• 2010: Unitrin purchases the rights to the Kemper name from Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company
• 2011: Unitrin adopts the Kemper Corporation name and begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker KMPR
• 2018: the insurer acquires Infinity Property and Casualty Corporation, adding a specialty auto insurer focused on urban and Hispanic drivers
• 2021: it adds American Access Casualty Company, expanding its specialty auto business into additional states
• 2022: the company completes the sale of Reserve National Insurance Company, narrowing its focus toward its core auto and life lines
• 2023: it exits the preferred home and auto insurance market, placing that business into runoff
• 2026: the group completes the sale of its Newins captive agency and storefront distribution business to Confie

Taken together, these moves mark a shift toward specialty auto and life insurance. Along the way, the company shed operations outside those core lines.

What does Kemper Corporation insure?

The insurer focuses on specialty auto coverage and individual life products, not broader personal lines. Its main business lines include:

• specialty personal automobile insurance, including nonstandard and multicultural market segments
• specialty commercial automobile insurance for businesses operating vehicle fleets
• individual life insurance, including whole life, term life, and graded death benefit products
• accident and health coverage, along with additional lines such as motorcycle, boat, and other recreational vehicle insurance

The auto segment distributes through a network of independent agents and brokers. The life segment operates through a dedicated field force of captive career agents who sell and service policies directly with customers.

The company’s market position

The firm now operates through two segments, specialty property and casualty insurance and life insurance. That structure follows several years of narrowing its focus. Divestitures such as the Reserve National sale have concentrated resources on specialty auto and life insurance. Kemper holds long-standing agent and broker relationships in both segments.

Culture and values

Kemper says its approach to corporate responsibility centers on an ownership culture. Stated commitments span environmental management, philanthropy, and workforce development. The company describes equal pay and an inclusive, equitable work environment as priorities for its associates. It also points to governance practices meant to build trust with shareholders and other stakeholders.