UMB shareholder targets Kemper's chairman seat

The proxy statement that Kansas City-based UMB Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: UMBF) issued Wednesday for its annual shareholder meeting on April 22 was pretty routine, except for a proposal brought forward by a shareholder.

The unnamed shareholder, who owns 92 shares of UMB's common stock, issued a resolution that would require the chairman of the company to be an independent member of the board of directors. If passed, the resolution would remove current Chairman Mariner Kemper from the position.

The shareholder is the same one who submitted a successful resolution requiring all of the company's directors to be elected annually and a successful proposal for an independent chairman at KeyCorp two years ago, according to the Kansas City Business Journal.

In targeting Kemper's chairmanship, the shareholder pointed out that the late R. Crosby Kemper Jr. received $150,000 a year plus an automobile and office facilities for consulting services from 2004 to 2013, and that three of his sons have now led the company and a daughter serves as executive vice president of marketing and communications.

"Although nepotism is not illegal, the proponent deems this much nepotism as distasteful, impractical and an unsound practice," the shareholder stated in support of the resolution.

Read more from the Kansas City Business Journal.