MEET KEMP
Hi, I’m Kemp Strickler, and I am proud to represent Lee’s Summit and House District 34 in the Missouri legislature. I serve on many key committees in the legislature, including Budget, Subcommittee on Appropriations - Health, Mental Health and Social Services, Joint Committee on Tax Policy, Ways and Means, Administration and Accouints (ranking member) and the Special Committee on Tax Reform (ranking member).
As a husband, father, and community servant, I understand the struggles Lee’s Summit families are facing. We are dealing with affordability issues in nearly all aspects of our lives, unfair county tax assessments, and a divided government that is often more interested in getting headlines than fixing our problems. In my four years in the House, I successfully helped bring tax relief for seniors, brought state funding to Lee's Summit and played a key role in ending the threat of a landfill on the borders of our communtiy.
My wife, Kristy, and I have lived in Lee’s Summit for nearly 40 years. It is where we have put down our roots and raised our daughter, Kara, our greatest pride and joy. We are so proud to call this community home. During our decades in Lee’s Summit we have been active in the school district and volunteered our time with various organizations, clubs, and causes throughout the community. We are long-time members of Lee’s Summit Christian Church, where I served as the moderator for our church leadership team before being elected to the legislature.
I was born in Harrisonville, Missouri, raised in Kansas City and have spent my entire life in the metro area. I earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial engineering and an MBA from the University of Missouri-Columbia. I am a lifetime Tiger and fierce advocate of our state’s wonderful public institutions. I served on both the Industrial Engineering Hall of Fame Board and the Marketing Department Advisory Board at the University of Missouri. I was proud to be inducted into Mizzou’s Industrial Engineering Hall of Fame and received the Citation of Merit award from Mizzou’s Trulaske College of Business. I also served as Vice Chair of the Lee’s Summit Arts Council.
I enjoyed a challenging but rewarding career at Hallmark, where I worked my way up from an entry level position in analytics to leadership roles responsible for multi-million dollar budgets. After 35 years at Hallmark, I retired from my position as a Senior Data Analytics Manager, where I led research teams that provided customer insight to help guide Hallmark’s strategic decisions.
As your state representative, I have listened closely to your concerns, and will continue to bring your perspective with me every day to the Missouri legislature.