# FBLA

The Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is an American career and technical student organization (CTSO) headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Established in 1940, FBLA is a non-profit organization of high school ("FBLA High School"), middle school ("FBLA Middle School"), and college ("FBLA Collegiate”) students, as well as professional members ("FBLA Network"), who primarily help students transition to the business world. FBLA is one of the largest student organizations in the United States, with more than 200,000 members, and the largest career student organization in the world. Local FBLA chapters are often connected to their school's business education department, and most advisers are business education teachers.
FBLA is one of the top 10 organizations listed by the U.S. Department of Education. FBLA's national charity partner is the March of Dimes, and the March of Dimes provides grants of $1,000 for local chapters and $2,500 for state chapters to promote their goals.

## History

FBLA was created by Hamden L. Forkner Sr. of Columbia University. Forkner, who also created the Forkner shorthand system, proposed that there should be one national organization to join the business clubs throughout the nation. The name "Future Business Leaders of America" was selected in 1940 and two years later the first chapter was created at Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee. In 1958, PBL (now FBLA Collegiate) was founded with the first chapter at the University of Northern Iowa. In 1979, the Alumni Division (now FBLA Network) was founded.

### Key Milestones

* 1940: FBLA was established.
* 1942: First FBLA chapter is experimentally chartered at Science Hill High School, Johnson City, Tennessee.
* 1958: Phi Beta Lambda, the postsecondary division of FBLA, is created.
* 1969: Granted independent status as a nonprofit educational student association.
* 1973: Edward D. Miller becomes FBLA's first full-time Executive Director.
* 1981: The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation gifts 1.6 acres of land to FBLA-PBL to build the National Center in Reston, Virginia.
* 1987: National Membership surpasses 200,000.
* 1991: The FBLA National Center is opened.
* 1994: FBLA-Middle Level formed for students Grades 5-9.
* 1997: Jean Buckley appointed President and CEO.
* 2019: Alexander T. Graham appointed President and CEO of FBLA-PBL.
* 2022: A new logo is released and Phi Beta Lambda is renamed to FBLA Collegiate.

## Governance

The organization is governed by its board of directors, which consists of the CEO, business leaders, state educators, business education teachers, and the two division national presidents.
FBLA's membership is represented by the FBLA Middle School, FBLA High School and FBLA Collegiate divisions. FBLA High School and FBLA Collegiate each have different member-elected national officer teams. The national officers are elected by voting delegates at the annual National Leadership Conference (NLC) and installed during the Awards of Excellence Program.
The FBLA High School officer team consists of a president, secretary, treasurer, parliamentarian, and five vice presidents representing each region. The FBLA Collegiate officer teams consist of a president, executive vice president, vice president of communication, vice president of financial development, vice president of membership, and parliamentarian. FBLA Collegiate is not segmented regionally.
FBLA Middle School and FBLA High School divide the United States into five administrative regions. These regions are Western, Mountain Plains, North Central, Southern, and Eastern.
Each state has what is called a State Chapter, which has its own State Officer Team. The roles in each State Officer Team vary by state, but each usually consists of a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Parliamentarian. Some also have Historians, Webmasters, and Reporters. Some states are then divided into regions, districts, or areas. These are often governed by an elected official who serves on the State Officer Team. Just like the national regional executive boards, there are small-scale boards in most regions, districts, and/or areas in most states.
Finally, each chapter has its own officer team. Chapter offices vary by chapter. While most use a structure similar to that of the national officers, others use a corporate-style structure with offices such as CEO, CIO, etc.

## Structure

Future Business Leaders of America is one of the largest student organizations in the United States. FBLA is composed of four divisions: FBLA Middle School, FBLA High School, FBLA Collegiate, and FBLA Network. Each academic division except for FBLA Middle School (the FBLA High School National Officers also represent FBLA Middle School) has their own National Officer team. Most states have an FBLA High School and FBLA Collegiate state officer team. Some states have FBLA Middle School state officer teams. The entire organization contains more than 250,000 members across the four divisions.

### FBLA High School

FBLA High School is the largest division of FBLA with over 209,000 members. FBLA High School is separated into five regions: Eastern, Southern, North Central, Mountain Plains, and Western. International chapters are part of the Eastern Region. To charter an FBLA state chapter, a state must have at least five local chapters. Currently, the states of Georgia and Missouri have the largest membership.

### FBLA Collegiate

FBLA Collegiate, formerly known as Phi Beta Lambda, is the collegiate division of FBLA with about 10,000 members. FBLA Collegiate can be found in traditional four-year colleges, community colleges, and career training programs. FBLA Collegiate has its own National Leadership Conference (NLC) before FBLA Middle School and FBLA High School's NLC. To charter an FBLA Collegiate state chapter, a state must have at least three local chapters.

## Competition

In a similar fashion to other closely related CTSOs, competition is an integral part of the operation of FBLA. These competitions are offered to all levels of membership in a wide variety of topics, such as Information Technology, Business, and Marketing. These competitions also range in the task, with some requiring on-the-spot and impromptu thinking, some being objective tests, and some requiring a team or individual to create something beforehand to be judged. All academic divisions have separate conferences from one another, (with the names and purposes remaining the same), starting with Regionals, then the State Leadership Conferences (SLCs), and finally, the National Leadership Conference (NLC). Under normal circumstances, an individual or team must first compete in a Regional competition provided by their state. In some states, attendance at a Regional conference is not required to continue to the next level. After Regionals, the competitor(s) would compete in their State Leadership Conference (SLC). This event is also provided by the individual state. If the competitor(s) accomplish a position in the top 5 of their event in their state, they qualify for the National Leadership Conference (NLC), provided by the National level.

## National Officers

FBLA High School elects its nine national officers, and FBLA Collegiate elects its six national officers at each summer's national leadership conference. National officers are responsible for representing the entire membership as well as designing and implementing the annual program of work to achieve FBLA's goals. Each national officer team serves for a one-year term. National officers also are assisted by a team of 5 members on a 'National Council' representing their position.