Ken Wagers serves as Vice President of Client Information Services in Kelmar’s Colorado office. Ken holds a Master of Taxation from the University of Denver (1985) and a Bachelor of Arts in Finance and Accounting from the College of Idaho (1984). His experience in the field dates from 1987, when he began developing unclaimed property management systems. Ken has spent his career working collaboratively with nearly every state, focusing on system implementations, integrations, and best practices. Mr. Wagers has successfully overseen ninety-five system implementations in unclaimed property departments, including twenty-nine KAPS® implementations during his tenure at Kelmar.
Ken joined Kelmar in 2012 as Director and has since held the position of Managing Director prior to his role as Vice President. Collaborating extensively with Kelmar’s reporting and processing teams, he is responsible for Client Information Services, including management, development, and delivery of KAPS®, the next generation unclaimed property management system for state governments. In addition, Ken manages Kelmar's relationships with its client states. As a Client Relationship Manager, he serves as the primary contact and resource for designated clients. In this capacity, he ensures the highest level of client service.
Ken serves on the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) committee that developed the both the “NAUPA II” standard, and the current modernization project for the “NAUPA III” reporting standard. Ken serves on the National Association of State Treasurers (NAST) Corporate Affiliate Board and is a regular speaker at NAST and NAUPA conferences. He has attended the National Institute of Public Finance at Pepperdine’s Graziadio Businss School as both an attendee and speaker several times and earned his Certificate in Public Treasury Management from the Institute. Ken was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from NAUPA in 2017.
Prior to joining Kelmar, Ken was a Senior Vice President at Xerox Unclaimed Property Clearinghouse (formerly ACS). For eight years, he was responsible for the development and delivery of unclaimed property systems offerings, including UPS2000, UPMS, HRS Pro and MissingMoney.com. Previously, Ken founded Wagers & Associates, Inc. where he was President and Owner for fifteen years, building the first commercial system responsible for managing unclaimed property reports for unclaimed property departments. During this time, Ken created and implemented the unclaimed property reporting systems utilized by forty-three unclaimed property departments in the United States and Canada. While at ACS, Ken was awarded the 2005 ACS Hustle award for his team’s work on MissingMoney.com.
Earlier in his career, Ken served as the Chief Financial Officer at Erbtec Engineering, Inc. from 1989-1995. He managed all financial and information technology aspects of the national leader of RF amplifiers for MRI medical imaging systems and assisted with negotiating the sale of the company to a leading medical devices company. As Senior Consultant CPA (now inactive) at Deloitte Haskins & Sells from 1985-1989, Mr. Wagers worked in various departments in the Denver office, including several years in the tax practice, and led the small business information systems consulting group. He was responsible for the installation of accounting solutions and network systems for small business clients, and the implementation and development of government reporting compliance systems.