For James Kemp, Jr., business is a family affair. “I would credit my dad for being a leader in our family, and starting something that would create a legacy for our family,” Kemp said. “I’m proud to come alongside.” The Culverhouse and Manderson graduate works at the KMS Family of Companies, which is a Birmingham-based firm, started by his parents, J. Michael Kemp, Sr. and Ursula Kemp in 2011. KMS now includes Kemp Management Solutions, a construction management and consulting firm, and two other subsidiary companies: Frameworq and Streemline.
The Birmingham native grew up with his parents and younger brother amid a large, tight-knit extended family, all living in the Magic City. He considered Auburn and Georgia Tech for college, but ultimately chose The University of Alabama based on scholarships and a campus visit.
As a senior finance major at Culverhouse, Kemp was drawn to investment banking. But he couldn’t see himself in that lifestyle, and he wanted to be available to his family, so he stayed at Manderson, pursued his MBA, and paid for half of his tuition by working at the UA Career Center as a graduate assistant, and earned the other half by working for KMS, sometimes putting in 60 hours a week or more. “You can say that entrepreneurial idea of being a part of something small, helping it grow, building processes and structure and developing people and relationships, that was what really intrigued me, initially, about coming to work for the business,” he said.
Since starting at the company, Kemp has helped launch two other subsidiaries under the KMS umbrella. Frameworq, a project management software company, was started in 2018. KMS worked with a group of Culverhouse MIS students to develop the initial proof of concept. Most recently, Streemline was started in 2023. Streemline is a clean transportation project management and consulting firm that offers the “same services as KMS, but with a focus on transportation, electric transportation, the EV space, and clean energy,” Kemp explained.
After 3 years of working at KMS, Kemp was promoted to director of business operations, and was empowered to run and sign accounts. Then, last year, after celebrating 8 years with the company, Kemp was promoted to vice president, where he is responsible, among other things, for managing relationships with large clients.
“When you’re starting out, you know that you don’t know enough, or that you need to know more,” Kemp reflected. “I have a finance degree, and now I’m in a construction management company. It feels like I don’t know enough about construction, but it’s just accepting that and then being humble enough to ask questions and still being engaged and putting yourself out there.”
Kemp has been further challenged in his role working with consultants and agencies, as well as an internal team, to launch, develop and build out the software platform Frameworq. Though he lacks some of the technical knowledge that is important for developing the business, he does not regret his business education. His MBA taught him the value of teamwork and accountability to a team, and his finance courses taught him to think analytically about company financials and operations. “My dad always said we need to run the business by the numbers,” he said. “So having that background in finance gives me good base knowledge. How to look at things financially, how to analyze financial data and numbers to help shape strategy.”
Speaking of numbers, Kemp’s goal for the next 5-7 years is to grow KMS to $100 million in revenue. A challenging goal, but one, it turns out, that is driven by family. “I’m doing everything I can to help build on the legacy my dad’s started for our family,” Kemp said. “Something we can be proud of and that creates a positive, long-term impact in our community.”