Founding Charter
Preamble
Founded in 2008 and reimagined in 2025, Grether & Company stands as a modern conglomerate built upon enduring principles and an unshakable conviction in the sacred worth of every human being. Originally serving the hospitality, transportation, and e-commerce sectors, Grether & Company now embraces a broader mission: to cultivate, acquire, and build enterprises that generate lasting value for investors while advancing the flourishing of people and communities.
We hold as foundational the belief that all people are created in the image of God and endowed with inherent dignity. This conviction shapes our business decisions, informs our investments, and defines our corporate culture. In every endeavor, we seek to unite strategic excellence with moral purpose — creating wealth not as an end in itself but as a means to build, uplift, and serve.
Grether & Company exists not merely to succeed in commerce but to demonstrate that business, guided by principle and vision, can be a force for good in the world. We dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of enduring value, faithful stewardship, and the advancement of enterprises that affirm life, human dignity, and the boundless potential within every person.
Founding Vision
Grether & Company envisions a future in which enterprise is not merely a mechanism for profit, but a vital instrument for human flourishing, dignity, and hope. We seek to build, acquire, and nurture companies that generate enduring value for our investors while advancing the common good — enterprises that lift people up, enrich communities, and embody the belief that all persons are made in the image of God and possess sacred worth.
Our vision is expansive and ambitious: to weave together a diverse portfolio of businesses — from transportation and hospitality to commerce, technology, real estate, and beyond — unified by a shared commitment to integrity, excellence, and the elevation of the human person. We aim to steward capital not as a private possession, but as a sacred trust, deploying it to create structures that endure, opportunities that multiply, and institutions that bless generations yet to come.
We believe that the strength of a company is measured not only in balance sheets and market share, but also in the good it brings into the world. Guided by this conviction, Grether & Company seeks to prove that profit and principle are not rivals but partners, and that disciplined ambition, when ordered toward the highest ends, can become a transformative force for good.
Our founding vision is therefore twofold: to become a premier conglomerate recognized for building enduring enterprises of extraordinary value, and to bear witness — in every decision, every partnership, and every endeavor — to the truth that business, rightly pursued, can serve the sacred dignity and infinite potential of humanity.
Core Values
1. The Sacred Dignity of Labor
We affirm that work is not merely a means of earning a living but a noble expression of human creativity and worth. Grether & Company upholds the dignity of labor in all its forms and honors the contributions of every person within our enterprises. We believe that business leadership must elevate, not exploit, the human spirit — cultivating workplaces where individuals are valued, respected, and empowered to flourish.
2. The Right to Sustenance and Stability
We hold as a matter of principle that all who labor faithfully should earn enough to support a family and live with dignity. Grether & Company is committed to pursuing business practices that foster economic justice — ensuring that compensation reflects the sacred worth of those who make enterprise possible. Prosperity must be shared, and the measure of success is not wealth amassed by the few but lives strengthened by the many.
3. Devotion to the American Common Good
We affirm that Grether & Company is both born of and bound to the United States of America — a nation whose freedoms make our work possible and whose people we are called to serve. While our reach may extend beyond its borders, our roots, loyalties, and primary labors shall remain here. We commit to building enterprises that strengthen the American economy, create dignified work for its people, contribute to its civic life, and embody the values upon which it was founded. Our patriotism is not narrow or exclusionary but rooted in gratitude and duty: a recognition that to love one’s country is to seek its good and to invest deeply in its future.
4. Integrity in Taxation and Civic Duty
We reject the falsehood that virtue and tax avoidance can coexist. Grether & Company affirms that taxes, lawfully levied, are the price of civilization and the means by which societies care for their people. We pledge to pay what is owed in full and on time, without artifice or evasion, and to conduct our affairs with transparency and fidelity to the common good.
5. Reverence for Law and Just Order
We recognize that the rule of law is the safeguard of liberty, stability, and justice. Grether & Company commits itself to strict compliance with the laws of every jurisdiction in which we operate and to the highest ethical standards beyond mere legal obligation. We will never treat law as an obstacle to be evaded but as a framework within which integrity and innovation can flourish.
6. Stewardship Over Ownership
We regard wealth and capital not as possessions to be hoarded but as trusts to be stewarded for the benefit of present and future generations. Grether & Company exercises its influence and resources with humility and accountability, seeking always to build enterprises that endure and to invest in endeavors that enrich the human family.
7. Human Flourishing as the Highest Aim
We hold that commerce must serve humanity, not the reverse. Every decision, investment, and enterprise we undertake is measured against its capacity to uplift people, strengthen communities, and affirm the sacred worth of those whose lives it touches. We believe that profit and purpose, rightly aligned, become partners in the advancement of the human good.
8. The Sacred Right to Redemption and New Beginnings
We affirm that no person is defined solely by their worst act and that those who have paid their debt to society are entitled to begin anew. In the spirit of the words of our Lord — “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5) — Grether & Company pledges itself to the work of restoration and renewal. We believe that justice is incomplete without mercy, and that human dignity is not extinguished by failure or imprisonment. Accordingly, we seek to open doors of opportunity to those returning from incarceration, offering good and dignified work that restores hope, rebuilds lives, and affirms that redemption is real. We measure our success not only by profit earned but by futures rebuilt.
9. Excellence and Enduring Value
We pursue excellence not as an act of ambition alone but as an act of reverence for the gifts entrusted to us. Grether & Company is devoted to building institutions that last — enterprises marked by discipline, integrity, innovation, and wisdom. Our goal is not fleeting success but enduring value that outlives us and blesses those who come after.
Guiding Commitments
I. To Our Shareholders and Investors
We pledge to steward capital with wisdom, prudence, and integrity. We will seek growth that is sustainable, profitability that is principled, and returns that endure beyond fleeting trends. Our decisions shall always be guided by a long-term view, valuing enduring substance over short-term gain. We reject the false dichotomy between conscience and commerce, and we will strive always to show that fidelity to principle strengthens, rather than hinders, financial success.
II. To Our Employees and Partners
We affirm that every person who labors within or alongside our enterprises is more than a resource — they are a bearer of infinite dignity and sacred worth. We commit to creating workplaces marked by respect, opportunity, and safety, where people are treated not as means to profit but as ends in themselves. We will pursue compensation practices that enable a dignified life, foster professional growth, and honor the contributions of all. We will listen, learn, and lead with humility, knowing that our people are our greatest strength.
III. To the Communities We Serve
We commit to being a constructive and responsible presence in every place we operate. We will invest in the well-being of communities, contribute to the common good, and seek solutions that uplift the vulnerable and expand opportunity. We reject indifference to the needs of our neighbors, recognizing that the health of our enterprises is inseparable from the health of the societies in which they live.
IV. To the Rule of Law and the Public Trust
We pledge to honor both the letter and the spirit of the law. We will conduct our affairs with transparency, pay our lawful taxes in full, and engage openly with regulatory bodies and civic institutions. Grether & Company will hold itself to standards higher than those required by statute, for legitimacy is not conferred solely by legal compliance but by steadfast devotion to justice, fairness, and the public good.
V. To Future Generations
We commit to building enterprises that endure beyond our lifetimes. Every investment, acquisition, and strategic decision shall be weighed not only by its immediate return but by its capacity to strengthen what will outlast us. We will steward resources with an eye toward those who come after, leaving a legacy of value, dignity, and possibility.
VI. To the Human Family
We pledge to conduct all our work in light of the truth that every person is created in the image of God and endowed with sacred worth. This conviction shall shape the culture of our companies, the relationships we form, the products and services we provide, and the impact we seek. In every sphere of endeavor, we will strive to ensure that our work affirms and advances the dignity and flourishing of the human person.
VII. To the Security and Dignity of Those Who Serve With Us
We hold as a matter of conscience that the men and women who give their labor to Grether & Company are not expendable instruments to be cast aside in pursuit of marginal gain. Accordingly, we solemnly commit that so long as our enterprises remain solvent and profitable or even at break-even, we shall not resort to layoffs as a tool of cost-cutting. Efficiency shall never be purchased at the expense of human dignity, nor shall shareholder returns be elevated above the well-being of those whose work makes our success possible. We will instead pursue innovation, redeployment, and shared sacrifice, seeking always to preserve livelihoods and honor the covenant between employer and employee.
VIII. To the Equal Dignity of All People
We affirm the inherent and inviolable dignity of every person, without distinction. Grether & Company shall never tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, or any other condition of human identity. More than this, we recognize that history has burdened certain communities with obstacles not of their own making. Where such inequities exist, we will labor not merely to avoid injustice but to repair it — to open doors, extend opportunity, and lift up those who have been excluded. Our aim is not conformity to passing fashion but fidelity to an enduring truth: that all are created in the image of God, and that enterprise, rightly ordered, must serve and honor that sacred equality.
IX. To Those Seeking a New Beginning
We commit to being a company that sees potential where others see only the past. Grether & Company shall actively seek to provide meaningful employment to men and women returning from incarceration, offering them not pity but partnership and purpose. We will work to remove unjust barriers to opportunity and to create pathways that allow those who have paid their debt to society to contribute, to provide for their families, and to live restored and dignified lives.
Founder’s Intent
I founded Grether & Company not merely to build businesses, but to bear witness to a truth older and greater than commerce itself: that human beings, created in the image of God and endowed with sacred worth, are never to be treated as means to profit but always as ends in themselves. From this conviction flows everything that follows — our reverence for labor, our belief in second chances, our devotion to justice and law, our commitment to the American common good, and our dedication to the flourishing of all people.
This company was born in 2008 and reimagined in 2025 with a singular purpose: to steward capital with wisdom and conscience, to create enterprises that endure and uplift, and to prove by our conduct that business, rightly ordered, can be a force for profound good. We reject the false choice between profitability and principle. We reject the notion that shareholder value must come at the expense of human dignity. We reject the cynicism that says enterprise cannot also be vocation.
I intend for Grether & Company to stand, now and for generations to come, as a beacon of disciplined ambition and moral clarity — a company that honors work, pays what it owes, obeys the law, and uses its strength to lift up those whom the world too easily casts aside. I intend for it to offer dignified employment to those returning from incarceration, to refuse the cruelty of needless layoffs, and to remain rooted in the soil of the nation that nurtured it.
Above all, I intend for Grether & Company to live by the principle that undergirds this entire charter: that every person has infinite worth, and that commerce, when guided by conscience, can become an instrument of redemption, renewal, and hope.
Let those who inherit this company in the generations to come hold fast to these convictions. Let them govern not only with intellect and strength, but with humility and reverence. And let them remember always that we build not merely for ourselves, but for the glory of God and the good of His people.
Enduring Mandate
Let this Charter stand not only as the record of our beginning but as a solemn charge to all who shall lead Grether & Company in the generations to come. Let no fleeting fashion, passing profit, or shifting wind of circumstance cause this enterprise to stray from the principles herein declared. The values set forth in these pages — the sacred worth of every person, the dignity of labor, the sanctity of law, the stewardship of wealth, the devotion to the common good, the possibility of redemption, and the calling of business to serve humanity — shall remain the unchanging compass by which this company is guided.
May those who inherit this work guard it with fidelity, build upon it with wisdom, and hand it onward strengthened and unsullied. And may Grether & Company, so guided and so governed, endure as a force for good, a steward of opportunity, and a testament to the truth that enterprise, rightly ordered, can ennoble the human spirit and honor the God who made it.