Our Story
A Vision of a High-Trust World
A LIFELONG PASSION FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE
Chandler Foundation was established in 2013 by the New Zealand-born investor and entrepreneur Richard Chandler. His passion for governance issues began when he was still a student at Auckland University. While completing his Master of Commerce degree, he wrote his thesis on corporate governance and went on to contribute a number of articles on the topic to domestic and international business journals.
In 1986, he founded Sovereign Asset Management alongside his brother, Christopher. Over the next 20 years, Sovereign invested in developing nations at a point of political and economic liberalisation.
During these investments, Chandler saw the malign impact of corruption and low levels of trust on national development. A key pillar of the company’s strategy was the promotion of good corporate governance, recognising that the tenets of honesty, transparency, and accountability are essential to building strong nations and vibrant economies.
Global Lessons in the Perils of Corruption
While investing in Brazil in the early 1990s, he witnessed the economy collapse when President Fernando Collor de Mello was forced to resign in a corruption scandal. In Russia during the 1990s, as the country emerged from communism under President Boris Yeltsin, Sovereign was prominent in opposing graft and promoting integrity within the nation’s developing market system.
In South Korea in the early 2000s the Chandler brothers again experienced the damaging consequences of a corporate culture tainted by corruption. For two years, they fought a landmark corporate governance battle at one of the country’s largest companies.
National Governance and Cultures of Integrity
“No nation can rise to a place of strength, prosperity and honour; and maintain it, without first establishing its moral foundations in government, in the marketplace and in society.”
Richard Chandler
Among the many lessons of Chandler’s experiences during his investment journey, the influence of the government on a nation’s culture and values stood out. In each of these countries, corporate wrongdoing and low-level graft were enabled by political cultures and systems that legitimized or excused unethical behavior. Without a strong commitment from government leaders, efforts to address corruption in other parts of society were only ever partial at best. Lacking integrity of leadership, these countries were never able to build the broad-based cultures of integrity necessary to become high-trust nations.
This revelation has been a guiding light for Chandler Foundation as we partner with government leaders to build high-trust nations. Through our programs and cultures of integrity knowledge products, we are providing strategies and tools to governments to strengthen their institutions, marketplaces, and communities.
