Steve Kemler grew up in in the towns of Millwood and Chappaqua in Westchester County, New York. He went to and graduated from Horace Greeley High School, where he played basketball and soccer. Steve also excelled at tennis and was a competitive club player in his youth.
After high school, Steve attended Trinity College in Connecticut. During his junior year he studied Economics at the University of London and then went on to work at the United Nations Development Program in Madagascar. During Steve’s senior year, he returned to Trinity and founded a student environmental group and a daily school paper, led the outing club, and served as the student liaison for the school’s intramural sports. Steve graduated Trinity with a B.A. in Economics.
While at Trinity, Steve started a national direct marketing company with two friends that they later sold to a private equity group. More recently Steve was CEO and cofounder of what became one of the largest healthcare training organizations in the nation. He successfully exited from that venture in 2015.
Steve is now active in the real estate industry as an investor in student housing projects adjacent to large public universities. He is one of the three primary partners in “the M” a 24-story ultra-energy-efficient student residence which is the first high rise developed in Seattle’s University District in over 30 years.
Steve Kemler also invests in other ventures. He was an executive producer on “The Kindergarten Teacher,” an award-winning (Best Director and Grand Jury prize at the 2018 Sundance film festival) movie that was later purchased by Netflix. He was also involved with the feature-length movie “Skin,” which is based on a true story of love overcoming hate and violence. The short version of Skin won an Oscar for the ‘BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT’ at the 91st Academy Awards. Steve is also an investor in a number of technology and other growth companies.about
Steve has been actively involved in assisting and helping fund non-profit organizations for many years with a primary focus on education, rainforest preservation and climate-change mitigation. He and his family split their time between New York City and the suburbs. They also love to travel and recent trips have included Sao Paolo, Barcelona, Kyoto, London and Koh Yao Noi.