Gardner Rich LLC is a minority-owned FINRA registered broker-dealer based in Chicago which was founded in October 1987 by Christopher P. Gardner. Drawing on his success at firms such as Dean Witter Reynolds and Bear Stearns, Christopher Gardner launched Gardner Rich specifically to meet the needs of public sector pension plans. Over the years, Gardner Rich has satisfied this objective for many public pension funds as well as several Taft-Hartley plans.

Gardner Rich is now recognized as a competent investment firm that competes for business on the basis of execution, price and added value, not on minority ownership. Gardner Rich’s relationship with the public pension fund and Taft-Hartley markets have continued to strengthen on an ongoing basis in terms of both their depth and breadth. The strength of these relationships gives Gardner Rich a unique understanding as to the needs and requirements of these funds that is unparalleled in the industry.

This unique understanding of the pension fund marketplace was instrumental to Gardner Rich achieving its current size and stature. When Gardner Rich was formed, overall market conditions were difficult. Public pension funds trustees began to look closely at their asset allocations. This resulted in the hiring of outside investment managers which prompted a significant increase in the amount of brokerage opportunities available to firms such as Gardner Rich. In addition to growth in brokerage opportunities, a concurrent trend was the increase in the diversity of pension fund trustees; trustees which sought to diversify their exposure and enhance competition across a wider range of brokers. Additionally, given the growing importance of diversity, corporate security issuers have also made concerted efforts to create diverse underwriting syndicates.

To this end Gardner Rich has developed a proprietary distribution model for new issues that adds value to both the transaction and to the corporations overall. As such, Gardner Rich is now positioned to expand its corporate finance services to more public corporations as many Fortune 500 companies continue to add diversity to their underwriting syndicates. Gardner Rich is poised for significant growth of both its core business as an institutional securities broker as well as increasing its participation in corporate underwriting.

Lastly, Gardner Rich has expanded its brokerage services to include trading in global markets through both ordinary and ADR form. In doing so, they have forged an alliance with a team of experienced international equity traders with strong local relationships and vast experience trading in these markets.

Gardner Rich's Chicago office. Please visit our contact page for directions.