Victor Arias, Jr in Chicago, Henry Hernandez in Los Angeles, and other MBA types in Houston, Miami, New York, San Francisco and San Juan were all starting up professional groups at about the same time. The early groups soon got wind of one another and decided to join forces. Lacking the funds for travel, the regional founders became phone buddies and spent hours conferencing across time zones on Sunday nights. Regional chapters, an annual meeting and a scholarship program were all on the early agendas of the society. In 1996, when John Honaman opened the first national office, he counted three staff members including himself.
Today there are twelve.
The society now numbers more than 2,500 members in about two dozen chapters. New York and Chicago are the largest, with nearly 300 members each. The national office gets involved with all the society functions and offers a variety of member services. But Honaman thinks the most important function of the national office is its work on corporate partnerships. The society has about 200 corporate partners, says Honaman, up from 100 when he took office in 1996.