Kenneth Kelly

Kenneth serves as Chairman and CEO of First Independence Corp and First Independence Bank, a minority depository institution based in Detroit, Michigan. He is a respected leader in the banking community. Under his leadership, the corporation has doubled its book value over the past five years. In October 2025, he was selected as chair of the American Bankers Association, where he served as vice chair from 2023 to 2025 and as a board member from 2020 to 2023. In this role, he represented the voice of the nation’s $25 trillion banking industry. In March 2023, he was appointed to the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, which holds assets totaling approximately $70 billion, to fill an unexpired term that ended in December 2023.

In March 2022, Kenneth was selected by the Chairman of the FDIC to serve a three-year term on the FDIC Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion (ComE-IN). He also served as Chairman of the National Bankers Association from 2018 to 2020, representing minority banks across the U.S. Additionally, from 2018 to 2020, he was a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's Seventh District Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council (CDIAC). From 2018 to 2021, he served on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman’s Advisory Committee on Community Banking, which provides advice and recommendations to the FDIC on policy and regulatory matters affecting community banks. Kenneth serves on the Community Advisory Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis since 2024. In October 2019, he testified as an expert witness before the U.S. Congressional House Financial Services Subcommittee.

Kenneth is NACD Directorship Certified, a credential that underscores his expertise in governance and leadership at the board level.

Kenneth also served as chairperson of the Auburn University Engineering Alumni Council, where he worked with a successful group of alumni, including many CEOs, to assist the dean of the College of Engineering with research and development, fundraising, and academic achievement. He was the first African American to hold this position. In 2019, during the dedication of the new Brown Kopel Engineering Student Achievement Center, the Kenneth Kelly Engineering Academic Excellence Program Reception Area was named in his honor. Kenneth was also Auburn University’s Commencement Speaker on April 30, 2021.

Before his career in banking, Kenneth enjoyed a 27-year career in the electric utility sector, where he held numerous roles within Southern Company. His final position involved negotiating acquisitions of large renewable solar projects, with a combined partnership value of $3.4 billion. In 2018, Kenneth was inducted as the 137th Distinguished Auburn Engineer, and in February 2020, he was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame.