{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Short description|American businessman (1941–2021)}} '''John Francis Sandner''' (November 3, 1941{{spnd}}March 11, 2021) was an American business executive and community leader. He served three stints as the chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), now the CME Group, in the 1980s and 1990s.
==Early life== Sandner was born in South Side, Chicago,<ref name="Tribune obit">{{cite news|title=Jack Sandner, longtime Chicago Mercantile Exchange chairman, dies at 79 after suffering a stroke|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/ct-biz-jack-sandner-cme-dies-20210313-ge7iok66pbcqzjeoa5vepdhqha-story.html|first=Robert|last=Channick|date=March 12, 2021|access-date=March 12, 2021|newspaper=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> on November 3, 1941.<ref name="Civic Federation">{{cite web|title=2010 Awards Luncheon Program|url=https://www.civicfed.org/sites/default/files/event-documents/2010%20Luncheon%20Program.pdf|accessdate=March 12, 2021|publisher=Chicago Civic Federation|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313052942/https://www.civicfed.org/sites/default/files/event-documents/2010%20Luncheon%20Program.pdf|archivedate=March 13, 2021}}</ref> His family, who were Irish American,<ref name=Strahler>{{cite news|title=Former CME leader Jack Sandner dies at 79|url=https://www.chicagobusiness.com/obituaries/former-cme-leader-jack-sandner-dies-79|first=Steven R.|last=Strahler|date=March 12, 2021|accessdate=March 12, 2021|work=Crain's Chicago Business|publisher=Crain Communications|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313061201/https://www.chicagobusiness.com/obituaries/former-cme-leader-jack-sandner-dies-79|archivedate=March 13, 2021}}</ref> were of a modest background and resided in a three-room apartment.<ref name="Sun Times obit">{{cite news|title=Jack Sandner, longtime Chicago Mercantile Exchange chairman, dies at 79|url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/3/12/22328374/jack-sandner-obituary-dies-age-79-chicago-mercantile-exchange-board-trade-chairman|first=David|last=Roeder|date=March 12, 2021|access-date=March 12, 2021|newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times}}</ref><ref name="Horatio Alger">{{cite web|title=Member Profile – John Francis Sandner|url=https://horatioalger.org/members/member-detail/john-francis-sandner|accessdate=March 13, 2021|publisher=Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313101845/https://horatioalger.org/members/member-detail/john-francis-sandner|archivedate=March 13, 2021}}</ref> His father worked as a shoe salesman, while his mother was employed at a variety store.<ref name="Horatio Alger"/> Sandner attended Chicago Vocational High School for one year before dropping out.<ref name=Strahler/><ref name="Horatio Alger"/> He consequently took up boxing under the guidance of Tony Zale.<ref name="Tribune obit"/><ref name="Horatio Alger"/> He finished his amateur career with a 58–2 record and a Golden Gloves title.<ref name="Tribune obit"/> He ultimately went back to school at Leo Catholic High School,<ref name=Strahler/><ref name="Horatio Alger"/> graduating as class valedictorian.<ref name="Civic Federation"/>
Sandner was awarded a scholarship to study psychology at Southern Illinois University,<ref name="Horatio Alger"/> earning a Bachelor of Arts from that institution.<ref name="Civic Federation"/> He went on to obtain a Juris Doctor from the University of Notre Dame. There, he received the law school's Dean's Award and won the three-year Appellate Advocacy competition. He earned a fellowship to the Law Science Academy, where he won the Dr. Ruth Jackson Award, graduating with high honors.<ref name="Civic Federation"/><ref name="Horatio Alger"/> Sandner was called to the Illinois Bar in 1968 and was subsequently admitted to several courts, including the United States Supreme Court.<ref name="Civic Federation"/>
==Business career== Sandner borrowed $80,000 to purchase a seat on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in 1971.<ref name="Tribune obit"/><ref name="Horatio Alger"/> He traded during his lunch breaks and performed respectably so that he became a member and full-time trader at the Exchange four years later.<ref name="Horatio Alger"/> He consequently established his own trading firm,<ref name="Tribune obit"/> and was elected to the board of the CME in 1977. He went on to become its chairman in 1980, becoming the youngest ever elected to the position and the first to serve multiple terms.<ref name="Horatio Alger"/>
Sandner served as chairman throughout the 1980s and 1990s.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://investor.cmegroup.com/investor-relations/directors.cfm?bioID=7627| title=CME Group Investor Relations| access-date=October 29, 2013| archive-date=November 1, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101062903/http://investor.cmegroup.com/investor-relations/directors.cfm?bioID=7627| url-status=dead}}</ref> During his tenure, exchanges in Chicago were blamed for aggravating the stock market crash in 1987, a claim which Sandner dismissed during his testimony before Congress. Moreover, 46 CME and Chicago Board of Trade traders were charged with racketeering, fraud, and lying to undercover federal agents in the late 1980s. Although he contended that more corruption existed at a hot dog stand, he conceded that "it was a real, real bad period".<ref name=Strahler/> Both he and Leo Melamed were credited with bringing the Exchange up to date by developing an initial version of electronic trading.<ref name=Strahler/> Sandner ended up becoming the longest elected exchange chairman in the history of the futures industry.<ref name="Civic Federation"/> He stepped down from the role in 1997 due to term limits.<ref name="Tribune obit"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Sandner wants to cut Merc board|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-12-23-9712230257-story.html|first=Greg|last=Burns|date=December 23, 1997|access-date=March 12, 2021|newspaper=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> That same year, he unveiled a proposal that would permit traders to send orders for futures contracts via the internet directly to the trading floor.<ref name="Sun Times obit"/>
Upon his retirement as chairman, Sandner was elected special policy advisor to the CME board of directors.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://investor.cmegroup.com/investor-relations/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=159421|title=press release}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://investor.cmegroup.com/investor-relations/committees.cfm?DocumentID=2329|title=CME Executive Committee}}</ref> He also served as chairman of the CME Foundation. He was a member of the team that took the CME public on December 6, 2002,{{sfn|Lambert|2010|p=191}} making it the first exchange in the United States to be publicly traded.<ref>{{cite web|title=2002 Annual Report|url=https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/c/NASDAQ_CME_2002.pdf|year=2002|accessdate=March 13, 2021|publisher=Chicago Mercantile Exchange}}</ref> Sandner played a significant role in the acquisitions of the Chicago Board of Trade in 2007,<ref name="Tribune obit"/> and the New York Mercantile Exchange the following year.{{sfn|Lambert|2010|p=198}} He also served on the board of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.dubaimerc.com/news/29apr09.aspx|title = Dubai Mercantile Exchange Press Release}}</ref>
===Public service and community involvement=== Sandner testified frequently before Congress as an industry leader, most notably the 1980 Gold and Silver Crisis, the 1987 stock market crash, and in the 1990s the modernization of financial services regulation.<ref name="Sun Times obit"/><ref name=Strahler/> Bill Clinton invited Sandner to address his economic summit in Little Rock in December 1992. Three years later, U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin appointed him to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Financial Services. He was asked in 1997 to be the U.S. Chair for Financial Services at the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue Conference in Rome. Clinton later appointed Sandner to the President's Export Council in 1999,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://clinton6.nara.gov/1999/04/1999-04-14-five-members-named-to-the-export-council.html | title=Clinton Press Release | access-date=November 12, 2013 | archive-date=July 26, 2001 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010726215632/http://clinton6.nara.gov/1999/04/1999-04-14-five-members-named-to-the-export-council.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> the premier National Advisory Council advising the President on International Trade.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/19990424/ISSUE01/10001145| title=Chicago Crains Apr 26 2009| date=April 23, 1999}}</ref> Sandner was appointed in 2001 by Congress to serve on the Library of Congress National Digital Strategy Advisory Board (NDSAB) to develop a national digital strategy for the preservation, management and distribution of the government's digital materials and information.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0304/digital.html | title=Library of Congress Web Site| website=Library of Congress}}</ref>
Sandner was a trustee of the University of Notre Dame,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nd.edu/about/leadership/board-of-trustees|title=Notre Dame Trustees}}</ref> Rush University Medical Center, the Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago, and the John G. Shedd Aquarium.<ref name="Civic Federation"/> It was in this capacity at Notre Dame that he persuaded the school to establish a program for individuals with special needs.<ref name="Sun Times obit"/> He was chairman of the Cancer Institute at Rush University Medical Center,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.rush.edu/rumc/page-1134773757226.html|title=Rush Trustees}}</ref> and served on the boards of the National Futures Association,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nfa.futures.org/nfa-about-nfa/board-of-directors.HTML|title=NFA Trustees}}</ref> the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.civiccommittee.org/members|title=Commercial Club}}</ref> Ryan Specialty Group, and Virtu Financial LLC.<ref>{{cite web|title=John F. Sandner|url=https://ryansg.com/leader/john-f-sandner/|accessdate=March 13, 2021|publisher=Ryan Specialty Group|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129040624/https://ryansg.com/leader/john-f-sandner/|archivedate=November 29, 2020}}</ref> He was also a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Executive Club of Chicago.<ref name="Civic Federation"/>
==Honors and recognition== Sandner was conferred the Points of Light Award from President George H. W. Bush,<ref name=NWHOF>{{cite web|title=Honoree: John F. Sandner|url=https://nwhof.org/stillwater/hall-of-fame/#type=hof&honoree=8240|accessdate=March 13, 2021|publisher=National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum}}</ref> the Horatio Alger Award (1998),<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.horatioalger.org/members_info.cfm?memberid=SAN98| title=Horatio Alger Award| access-date=November 7, 2013| archive-date=December 14, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214060757/https://www.horatioalger.org/members_info.cfm?memberid=SAN98| url-status=dead}}</ref> the “Living Proof Award” from Rush University Children's Hospital Neurobehavioral Center and was named Man of the Year by the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.<ref name="Civic Federation"/> He was also inducted into the Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame in 1995,<ref>{{cite news|title=Sports museum thrives only a short drive away|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/arlington-heights-daily-herald-suburban-chicago-dec-22-1994-p-172/|date=December 22, 1994|access-date=March 13, 2021|newspaper=Daily Herald|location=Arlington Heights, Illinois}}</ref> and honored by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce as Person of the Year in 1996.<ref>{{cite news|title=Natural look suits The Worm, Crawford says|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-10-27-9610270385-story.html|first1=Judy|last1=Hevrdejs|first2=Mike|last2=Conklin|date=October 27, 1996|access-date=March 13, 2021|newspaper=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> Sandner was bestowed the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Outstanding American Award in the fall of 2008.<ref name=NWHOF/>
Sandner was awarded an honorary doctorate of law from the University of Notre Dame on May 21, 2006.<ref>{{cite web|title=Commencement Program|url=http://archives.nd.edu/Commencement/2006-05-21_Commencement.pdf|page=20|date=May 21, 2006|accessdate=March 13, 2021|publisher=University of Notre Dame}}</ref> He was honored with an endowed chair "Chicago Mercantile Exchange John F. Sandner in Futures and Options Studies" at Northwestern University J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Roosevelt University and Lincoln College (Illinois).<ref name=NWHOF/>
==Personal life== Sandner met his wife, Carole, while studying at Notre Dame. She worked as a nurse at a hospital in South Bend, Indiana.<ref name="Tribune obit"/> They were married for 51 years until his death. Together, they adopted eight children.<ref name="Sun Times obit"/><ref name=Strahler/>
Sandner resided in Lake Bluff, Illinois, during his later years. He died on March 11, 2021, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He was 79, and suffered a stroke prior to his death.<ref name="Sun Times obit"/>
==References== '''Specific''' {{reflist}}
'''Bibliography''' {{refbegin}} *{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5i1F0jIMpz4C&pg=PA191|title=The Futures: The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World's Biggest Markets|publisher=Basic Books|date=December 28, 2010|last=Lambert|first=Emily|isbn=9780393323696}} {{refend}}
== External links == * [https://archive.today/20131030100557/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=514527&ticker=ECHO&previousCapId=2004577&previousTitle=CME+GROUP+INCBiography Biography of John F. Sandner, Bloomberg] * [https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0128/064.html Forbes]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandner, John F.}} Category:1941 births Category:2021 deaths Category:American businesspeople in finance Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Businesspeople from Chicago Category:Notre Dame Law School alumni Category:University of Notre Dame Trustees