Kemper (KMPR) Appoints James J. McKinney As New CFO

Kemper Corporation (NYSE:KMPR) has appointed James “Jim” J. McKinney as its Chief Financial Officer as well as Senior Vice President, effective Nov 2016. James J. McKinney will replace Frank J. Sodaro. Despite stepping down from his current position, Sodaro will remain associated with the company as a senior advisor till the end of this year.

McKinney will report to Joseph P. Lacher, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Kemper Corp. The company’s Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, Richard Roeske, will serve as the interim CFO.

McKinney has been associated with stalwarts like Banc of California, American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG) , RBS (LON:RBS) Citizens Asset Finance KPMG, ServiceGas and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. With his vast experience and expertise, McKinney is a perfect fit for position he has been appointed to. According to Lacher,Jr., “Jim brings extensive finance vision, leadership, analytics and expertise to this role. With the business improvements we are driving, he will help ensure we deliver on our objectives.”

With about $8 billion in assets, Kemper is one of the leading insurers of the country. The company, which has been writing premiums for more than a century, remains focused on boosting its preferred home and auto lines of business. Given the initiatives undertaken, the company started improved retention and new business writings. The insurer is also on track with streamlining its business and generating cost savings. We believe that McKinney’s vast knowledge and experience will help the company in achieving its goals.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Kemper presently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked multiline insurers are CNO Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:CNO) and James River Group Holdings, Ltd. (NASDAQ:JRVR) . Each of these carry Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Confidential from Zacks

Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>>