Kemper Scholar Profile

Roger L. Jenkins
Roger L. Jenkins

Roger L. Jenkins


Through my many interactions with students . . ., I hope that I have inspired at least some of them in the way the Kemper Scholar program inspired me.

At Berea, I was made aware of many opportunities available to students with a dream and willingness to work hard. Perhaps the greatest of these opportunities was the Kemper Scholars Program. As a Kemper Scholar I walked through a doorway into a world full of new possibilities. My summers in Chicago made my world so much bigger and it was through this corporate exposure that I began to set loftier career goals because I realized that by achieving great goals, one was able to set even higher ones. The Kemper executives in Chicago were exceptional mentors and I’ll always value their encouragement and support. The Kemper Scholars Program, in no small measure, is directly responsible for so much of my career success.

My career has included both academic and industry experience. On the industry side, I’ve worked in several functional areas, gaining insights that foster my firm belief in the importance of destroying "silos" and promoting an interdisciplinary approach in business education.

I have been an international accountant with Eastman Kodak Co., an auditor and an accountant with Shell Oil. More recently, I served as president and CEO of a Knoxville, Tennessee-based management and marketing consulting firm. From 1993-95, I was director, president and chief operating officer of Goody's Family Clothing, Inc., a $600 million public retailing firm.

In the academic realm, I taught marketing and served in administrative capacities at Ohio State and the University of Tennessee. In 1998, I was appointed to the F.M. Kirby Chair in Business Excellence at Wake Forest University’s Babcock School of Business. In April 2002, I was named dean of the Richard T. Farmer School of Business at Miami University, a position that has afforded enormous opportunities for enhancing programs, increasing institutional visibility, and building resources to support excellence.

It was a great honor to be a Kemper Scholar. The scholarship provided critical financial help to a young man of limited means. But, more importantly, the three-year experience allowed me to give my dreams legs. Through my many interactions with students in the years since I earned my bachelor’s degree, I hope that I have inspired at least some of them in the way the Kemper Scholars Program inspired me.