Grether & Company Founding Charter
The Reverend Matthew David González, J.D., composed, organized, edited, and wrote this Founding Charter on October 14–21, 2025, and he prayerfully expanded it during November of 2025, during and following his composition and preparation of the Investor Prospectus, to reflect Grether & Company’s deepening vocation in hospitality, enterprise, and human flourishing.
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 focused on hospitality, transportation, and e-commerce, 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 God created all people in His image and endowed them with inherent dignity. This conviction shapes our business decisions, informs our investments, and defines our corporate culture. We seek to unite strategic excellence with moral purpose, creating wealth not as an end but to build, uplift, and serve.
From its earliest days, Grether & Company has understood hospitality not merely as a sector but as a way of inhabiting the world. To welcome the guest with dignity, to honor the worker, to create spaces where people are safe and seen — these are central to our identity. Scripture instructs: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers.”[1] This command speaks not only to households but also to institutions.
We seek to build enterprises that reflect the generosity of God rather than the scarcity
assumed by the world. We commit to shaping environments where people experience not only service, but genuine care. We believe that excellence in enterprise is inseparable from reverence for the human person. And we affirm that when profit honors principle, both are strengthened and neither is diminished.
The Grethers
Matthew’s great-great grandfather John Michael Grether (1828-1904) was born in Germany. As a young man he trained as a baker. He then emigrated to the United States with his beloved mother, settling in Ohio. He went to medical school and began a career as a physician. God then called him into ordained ministry, and he went to seminary. He then spent his ministry career serving parishes in Ohio and occasionally working as a doctor. All his sons, including Frank (1856-1930), Herman (1857-1932), Alfred (1873-1962), William (1882-1935), George (1877-1965), became pastors; three were also theologians. George, an ordained theologian, served four parishes in Wisconsin and was a seminary professor. He had four daughters, one of whom he named Gertrude Emma Grether (1908-1999). Gertrude earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in classics from the University of Wisconsin, a Master of Arts degree in classics from Yale University, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in classics from Cornell University. She taught at several universities around the country. She married Herbert Herman Rasche (1907-1984), a businessman’s son, who like her earned an Ivy League doctorate (Harvard) and rose to become a field grade military officer (Colonel) in the United States Army. He also ran academic departments. Their daughter Elizabeth (1949-2016), a gifted medical journalist, writer, poet, nonprofit executive, visual mixed-media artist, and health lawyer, was a woman of astonishing breadth and depth — a soul who radiated love, grace, and quiet strength in everything she did. She defied easy description, for her brilliance was matched only by her compassion, and her intellect by her gentleness. To her son, Matthew, her only child, she was not merely a beloved mother but the most extraordinary person he has ever known — the center of his world, a guiding light whose love continues to shape his life and vocation. Those who were blessed to know Elizabeth carry with them the indelible imprint of her presence, and her spirit lives on in every act of love and justice inspired by her memory.
About Grether & Company’s Founder and President
Matthew was born on February 19, 1982. His parents so named him because “Matthew” means “Gift of God” and because his mother loved the Gospel of Matthew, particularly Christ’s ethical teachings and the Sermon on the Mount. He grew up in Skokie, Illinois, where he attended wonderful public schools. For his undergraduate education he went to Northwestern University, where he majored in history (Americas concentration) and prepared to be a certified teacher of middle school and high school history and social sciences. After graduation he taught for three years in the Chicago Public Schools. Thereafter he entered the private sector, founding his own business that is an antecedent of Grether & Company. Between 2017 and 2021 he was a Juris Doctor candidate at Chicago-Kent College of Law; he graduated with that degree during May of 2021. Between 2022 and 2025 he was a Master of Divinity candidate at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He left to run his nonprofit, Clergy Care Collective (https://www.clergycarecollective.org), practice law, and run Grether & Company.
On February 17, 1995, Matthew tried to commit suicide, unsuccessfully. He had an extravagant born-again experience during 2008, on the same avenue where the suicide attempt occurred. Bishop Frederick Harris and his wife Rev. Dr. Deloris Harris baptized Matthew via full ion October 24, 2009. A bishop ordained him into the pastorate on February 17, 2021, on that same avenue. On February 17, 2025, he consecrated his entire ministry to St. Dymphna and her queen the Blessed Mother. His Eucharist-centered ministry is focused on mental health advocacy. As of late 2025 he is a daily communicant at Queen of All Saints parish in Chicago.
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 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.
We envision workplaces where people feel safe, seen, and supported, and where leadership is exercised with humility and moral courage. We envision a corporate landscape in which generosity becomes a competitive advantage, and the well-being of communities is regarded as essential to long-term success. And we envision a future in which our enterprises become instruments of blessing, healing, and renewal in the places they serve.
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. Profit and principle are not rivals but partners. Disciplined ambition, ordered toward the highest ends, can become a transformative force for good.
Our founding vision is therefore to become a premier conglomerate recognized for building enduring enterprises of extraordinary value and to bear witness, in every decision, partnership, and endeavor, to the truth that business, rightly pursued, can serve the dignity and infinite potential of humanity.
Founding Values
The work of Grether & Company is rooted in enduring principles that transcend commerce and speak to the deeper purpose of enterprise. These values are the foundation of all that we build and the standards by which we measure our success:
1. The Sacred Dignity of Labor
Work is not merely a means of survival 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. 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 that all who labor faithfully should earn enough to support a family and live with dignity. Grether & Company is committed to business practices that foster economic justice — ensuring that compensation reflects the worth of those who make enterprise possible. Prosperity must be shared; success is measured not only by wealth amassed but by lives strengthened.
3. Integrity in Taxation and Civic Duty
We reject the falsehood that virtue and tax avoidance can coexist. Taxes, lawfully levied, are one way societies care for their people. We pledge to pay for what is owed in full and on time, without artifice or evasion, and to conduct our affairs with transparency.
4. Reverence for Law and Just Order
The rule of law safeguards liberty, stability, and justice. Grether & Company commits to strict compliance with the laws of every jurisdiction in which we operate and to ethical standards beyond mere legal obligation. Law is not an obstacle to be evaded but a framework within which integrity and innovation can flourish.
5. 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. We exercise influence and resources with humility and accountability, seeking always to build enterprises that endure and to invest in endeavors that enrich the human family.
6. Human Flourishing as the Highest Aim
Commerce must serve humanity, not the reverse. Every decision, investment, and enterprise is measured against its capacity to uplift people, strengthen communities, and affirm the sacred worth of those whose lives it touches. Profit and purpose, rightly aligned, advance the human good.
7. Excellence and Enduring Value
We pursue excellence as an act of reverence for the gifts entrusted to us. Grether & Company is devoted to building institutions that last — 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.
8. Devotion to the American Common Good
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 and primary labor remain here. We commit to building enterprises that strengthen the American economy, create dignified work, contribute to civic life, and embody the values upon which it was founded.
9. The Sacred Right to Redemption and New Beginnings
No person is defined solely by his or her worst act, and those who have paid their debt to society are entitled to begin anew. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”[2] We pledge ourselves to restoration and renewal. Justice is incomplete without mercy. Accordingly, we seek to open doors of opportunity to those returning from incarceration, offering dignified work that restores hope and rebuilds lives.
Our Theology of Hospitality
Scripture testifies that God’s dealings with humanity are marked, again and again, by hospitality — by a gracious, undeserved welcome.
Abraham, sitting at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day, “looked up and saw three men standing nearby”[3] and hastened to offer them water, rest, and food. In welcoming strangers, he found himself entertaining messengers of God. Hebrews echoes this mystery: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers.”[4] Jesus identifies Himself with the one in need of welcome, the stranger. With this declaration, He unites Himself with the vulnerable; welcoming strangers becomes an act of service rendered to Christ.
Hospitality in the Christian tradition is therefore not mere kindness. It is a sacramental posture toward the stranger, the guest, the traveler, the vulnerable worker, the disoriented seminarian, the exhausted pastor, the person emerging from prison, the one battered by illness or injustice. To welcome them is to participate in God’s own welcome.
The early Church lived this: breaking bread together, sharing possessions, welcoming travelers, caring for the sick. St. Peter’s exhortation still rings: “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”[5]
The Christian theology of hospitality rests on several convictions:
God is the First Host.
Humanity exists because God has made room for us in creation. He prepares a table, invites us to His banquet, and in Christ offers us a place in His own life.Christ Comes as Guest — and Host.
In the Incarnation, Christ comes as the Guest with nowhere to lay His head, yet He is also the Host who feeds the multitudes and prepares the Eucharistic feast.The Holy Spirit Makes Hospitality a Vocation.
The Spirit forms communities where barriers fall and people discover they belong to one another in Christ.Hospitality is Justice and Mercy Intertwined.
True hospitality is concrete participation in justice: making room for those whom the world has excluded.
These convictions must shape not only sanctuaries but also enterprise — hotels, workplaces, and all the structures through which people move. For those who believe the Gospel, hospitality is a way of being in the world, a way of structuring organizations, a way of doing business.
Grether & Company therefore understands hospitality not only as a sector in which we operate, but as a theological horizon for our work.
The Hospitality Vocation of Grether & Company
From its earliest conception, Grether & Company has been drawn to the hospitality industry. Over time it became clear that hospitality must not be confined to a single division. Hospitality is a vocation that must permeate the entire company.
1. Hospitality to Guests
In our hotels, lodging operations, and guest-facing businesses, we commit to treating every guest as a bearer of sacred worth. We reject models that see guests as mere revenue units. We regard them as people: tired travelers, families, workers, the elderly, the young, the lonely, the hopeful. We seek to create environments where they experience safety, respect, and rest.
2. Hospitality to Employees
Hospitality is hollow if extended to guests but denied to employees. The welcome must begin within. Our workplaces must be environments in which employees and managers experience dignity, stability, and genuine care. Fair wages, predictable scheduling, opportunities for advancement, and a culture of respect are essential expressions of our hospitality vocation.
3. Hospitality to Those Seeking a Second Chance
In a world quick to discard those who have stumbled or been imprisoned, Grether & Company pledges to be a place where new beginnings are possible. Second-chance hiring is an expression of hospitality: making room at the table of work for those locked out of economic life. We will face the challenges of reintegration with honesty, structure, and grace, believing that restored lives are among the highest returns enterprise can produce.
4. Hospitality to Communities
Our properties are embedded in neighborhoods, towns, and cities. We commit to practicing hospitality at the level of community: listening to local concerns, hiring locally when feasible, and ensuring that our presence is a blessing, not a burden. We reject extractive models that drain value from communities while giving little in return.
5. Hospitality in Leadership and Governance
Finally, we understand hospitality as a posture of leadership. To lead hospitably is to create space for others’ gifts, to listen well, and to ensure that people are not silenced when they raise hard truths in good faith. Within our governance, hospitality will be expressed in transparency, fair dealing, and a willingness to make room for voices representing employees, guests, and communities, not solely investors and executives.
In short, the hospitality vocation of Grether & Company shapes how we design policies, allocate capital, treat employees, engage neighbors, and envision the purpose of our work.
Guiding Commitments
The values we profess must be embodied in the choices we make. Grether & Company therefore binds itself to the following commitments:
1. To Our Shareholders and Investors
We will steward capital with wisdom, prudence, and integrity. We seek growth that is sustainable, profitability that is principled, and returns that endure beyond fleeting trends. We reject the false dichotomy between conscience and commerce.
2. To Our Employees and Partners
We affirm that every person who labors within or alongside our enterprises is more than a resource. We commit to workplaces marked by respect, opportunity, and safety, where people are
treated with an affirmation that they have sacred worth.
3. To the Communities We Serve
We will be a constructive and responsible presence in every place we operate, investing in the well-being of communities and rejecting indifference to the needs of our neighbors.
4. To the Rule of Law and the Public Trust
We will honor both the letter and the spirit of the law, conducting our affairs with transparency and holding ourselves to standards higher than those required by statute.
5. Future Generations
We will build enterprises that endure beyond our lifetimes, weighing each decision by its capacity to strengthen what will outlast us.
6. To the Human Family
We will conduct all our work in light of the truth that every person is created in the image of God and endowed with sacred worth, seeking always to advance the dignity and flourishing of the human person.
7. To the Security and Dignity of Those Who Serve with Us
So long as our enterprises remain solvent and profitable — or at breakeven — we will not use layoffs as a tool of cost-cutting. Efficiency will not be purchased at the expense of human dignity.
8. To the Equal Dignity of All People
We will never tolerate discrimination based on race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, arrest record, or any other condition of human identity. Where history has burdened communities with unjust obstacles, we will seek not only to avoid injustice but to repair it.
9. To Those Seeking a New Beginning
We will be a company that sees potential where others see only the past, providing meaningful employment to people returning from incarceration and creating pathways for 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 in this Charter — my reverence for labor, my belief in second chances, my devotion to justice and law, my commitment to the American common good, my vocation of hospitality, and my 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. I reject the false choice between profitability and principle. I reject the notion that shareholder value must come at the expense of human dignity. I 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, delights in true hospitality, and uses its strength to lift 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, to remain rooted in the nation that nurtured it, and to welcome guests, employees, and communities in a way that reflects the welcome of God.
Let those who inherit this company hold fast to these convictions. Let them govern not only with intellect and strength, but with humility and reverence. Let them remember that we build not merely for ourselves, but for the glory of God and the good of His people.
Final Blessing
May this Charter be more than words. May it be a living witness — in boardrooms and break rooms, in hotels and offices, in contracts and conversations — that human beings are sacred, that work is noble, that hospitality is holy, and that enterprise can be a servant of mercy and justice. May every guest who crosses the threshold of a Grether & Company property experience, in some measure, the kindness of God. May every employee who bears the weight of our work find dignity, stability, and hope. May every investor who entrusts us with capital see that their returns are measured not only in profit but in strengthened lives and communities blessed.
May we never forget the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the lonely, the anxious, the exhausted pastor, the struggling seminarian, the worker on the night shift, the guest arriving late with nowhere else to go. In welcoming them, we welcome Christ Himself.
May the risen Christ, the Bread of Life, the Son of Man, the Light of the World, who is both Host and Guest — who prepares a table for His people and comes as a stranger on the road — guide Grether & Company in all its ways.
Faithfully,
/s/ The Reverend Matthew David González, J.D.
[1] Hebrews 13:2; New International Version. The New York Bible Society published this translation from the source Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew, in 1978. The copyright holder in 2025 is Zondervan, from whom Matthew has received permission to reproduce the verses within all his writings and homilies, without restriction. All other scripture citations within this charter are from this translation, which is Matthew’s favorite.
[2] 2 Corinthians 5:17.
[3] Cf. Genesis 18:1-8.
[4] Hebrews 13:2.
[5] 1 Peter 4:9.