About the Kehrer Group

Dr. Kehrer has been studying the transformation of banks and credit unions to financial services stores since the early 1980s. His research has influenced the metrics that a generation of industry practitioners use to assess their businesses and assimilate best industry practices. He also pioneered the concept of forming bank roundtable discussion groups that bring together professionals with similar job responsibilities to share experiences and react to the latest research. The work he formerly did at Kenneth Kehrer Associates was the foundation of Kehrer-LIMRA, Kehrer Saltzman & Associates, and now Kerhrer Bielan Research & Consulting.

Since the formation of Kenneth Kehrer Associates in 1985, Dr. Kehrer, along with his wife and partner Christine, leveraged their proprietary research to help scores of banks and credit unions start investment and insurance businesses or improve existing ones. He has also consulted for over a hundred product and service providers—insurers, investment companies, securities firms, technology providers, management consultants, and marketing organizations—on the development of strategies for bank distribution. The firm initiated many groundbreaking publications including The Kehrer Report: Quarterly Newsletter of the Bank Insurance and Investment Industry and the first annual benchmarking and compensation studies of investment services in financial institutions. Kenneth Kehrer Associates provided the annual Consumer Investments Study for the Consumer Bankers Association beginning in 1993, the Quarterly Productivity & Performance Report for the Bank Insurance and Securities Association beginning in 1996, and the Annual Bank Life Insurance Sales Study with LIMRA International beginning in 1999.

In 2004, Dr. Kehrer received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bank Insurance and Securities Association for his contributions to the industry. In 2006, the ongoing surveys and roundtable discussion groups of Kenneth Kehrer Associates were sold to LIMRA. The resulting company Kehrer-LIMRA continued some of the activities that Dr. Kehrer and Christine Kehrer initiated over the previous 27 years. For the next several years, Dr. Kehrer wrotea series of whitepapers that drew on the cumulative experience of the industry over the previous three decades to better illuminate best practices and chart the future of the financial advice industry in banks and credit unions.

Dr. Kenneth Kehrer reaches a much wider audience through his public commentary. He has testified before both houses of Congress and is frequently asked to comment on industry trends by the media. He has also been a member of the faculty of the StonierGraduate School of Banking, a contributing editor of the ABA Banking Journal, a columnist for Bank Investment Consultant, and a frequent contributor to the AmericanBanker, Bank Insurance and Investment Marketing, BISA Portfolio, and other publications.

He earned his PhD in Economics from Yale University after graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College and earning a Masters Degree in Indian History from Panjab University in Lahore, Pakistan as a Fulbright Scholar.

Prior to focusing on the disruptive collision of banking and financial services, Dr. Kehrer was a diplomat, international development economist, college professor, and public policy analyst at a research think tank.  His contributions to the various stages of his career are documented in over 350 publications and presentations.

Ms. Kehrer directed the information services and survey business of Kenneth Kehrer Associates, including the Kehrer Bank Fixed Annuity RateWatch and RateWatch Plus [which monitored the features and pricing of the best selling fixed annuities through banks], the Monthly Bank Investment Services Monitor survey of large banks, the Monthly Community Bank Brokerage Survey, quarterly surveys of bank annuity and mutual fund sales, and the company’s hallmark information service—the Annual Kehrer Financial Institution Investment Program Benchmarking Survey. In addition, she was the author of the annual Bank Investment & Insurance Services Compensation Study, and co-author with Dr. Kehrer of the BISA Quarterly Productivity and Performance Report and Annual Industry Trends Study. The information services and survey business was sold to LIMRA, which carried on the studies through Kehrer LIMRA and subsequently BISRA. After the termination of BISRA, many of these studies continue to this day, as other firms have copied their methodology.

At Kehrer Group she contributes to the strategic direction of the firm, and manages the firm’s technology.

Prior to the formation of Kenneth Kehrer Associates she was an analyst and survey manager at a Princeton-based think tank.

Ms. Taplin manages communications for Kehrer Group, including marketing campaigns, press releases, and social media. She also formats and publishes the firm’s documents. She designed and currently maintains the firm’s website.

Ms. Taplin has been a technical editor for over 15 years with expertise in document design, style guides, formatting, writing, proofreading, comprehensive editing, and website design and maintenance in the civil and environmental engineering fields.

She has a BA in English and Spanish from Washington & Jefferson College and a Technical Writing Certificate from Brooklyn College.