About the Federation

IMC began in the United States. In 1903 a group of factory foremen in Hartford, Connecticut founded the Industrial Management Club (IMC) with the help of the YMCA. Clubs spread to more than forty states, their members drawn from well-known figures in business and industry, and the name later became the International Management Council, still known as IMC. Run democratically and with great energy, the clubs trained many business leaders, served their communities and contributed greatly to American industrial development. The first national convention was held in New York in 1935, and conventions were held every year thereafter in cities such as Philadelphia, Washington and Chicago.

IMC in Taiwan

In 1961 Mr. 吳金川, later Chairman of the national IMC Federation of the Republic of China, was sent by the US International Cooperation Administration to study business in the United States and Japan. He saw how seriously both countries took the study of business management, and how eagerly business owners in Japan attended management seminars. Back in Taiwan he reported to a meeting of the Taipei YMCA that Taiwan, too, must take up the study of business management.

His report found strong support among those present, including the late Mr. 林和引, founding president of IMC Taipei. At the same time Mr. 吳安全 returned from studying the YMCA in the United States and reported that the American YMCA sponsored IMC clubs devoted to the study of business management. On 5 May 1961 the Taipei International Management Council (YMCA IMC) was founded — the first IMC club in Taiwan — and IMC headquarters in the United States sent its congratulations. Clubs followed in Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Chiayi, Keelung, Changhua and Tainan County, forming sister-club ties with IMC clubs in the United States and alliances with organisations in Japan.

The national Federation

To strengthen cooperation, joint study and friendship among the clubs, the IMC Federation of the Republic of China was established on 16 February 1973. A national convention has been held every year since, hosted in turn by the member clubs. The first was held on 17 November 1973 at the Ambassador Hotel in Taipei, with a keynote address by Minister of Finance 李國鼎, and Will R. Stone, President of the 40th National Convention of the International Management Council (affiliated with the YMCA), sent congratulations on behalf of its 190 American clubs.

At the 17th national convention in Tainan on 4 November 1989, Mr. 吳金川 re-chartered every club and presented each club president with a chain of office. Today IMC Taiwan has sixteen member clubs and remains a forum where business owners and managers study how to run and manage an enterprise successfully — a school for entrepreneurs and a cradle of business leaders.

Read more: Charter & Purpose · Past Presidents