ISBIS started in 1990 within ISI as a Working Group in Industrial Statistics. Following a suggestion by Lai K. Chan that ISI should play a role in promoting the area, an open meeting was held at the 1989 ISI Biennial Session (now called World Congress) in Paris. There was substantial interest, so the ISI approved the formation of a Working Group with the following initial members:

Ram Gnanadesikan (Chair), Lai K. Chan, Nick Fisher, Vijay Nair, and Jeff Wu.

The group was successful in organizing and sponsoring various activities and stimulating broad participation. This led to the formation of an ISI Standing Committee on Statistics in Industry (CSI) in 1992. The scope of the committee was broadened to include business statistics and the name was changed to Statistics in Business and Industry (SBI) in 1999.

The following people have served as Chairs of CSI and SBI:

Ram Gnanadesikan (India) 1992-1995

Vijay Nair (Malaysia/USA) 1995-1999

Nick Fisher (Australia) 1999-2003

Bovas Abraham (Canada/India) 2003-2005

The committee’s proposal to become a new section (now called Association) of the ISI was approved at the ISI General Assembly at the Biennial Session in Sydney in 2005, and the International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics (ISBIS) was launched as a new association under the umbrella of ISI.

The following people have since served as President of ISBIS:

Bovas Abraham (Canada/India) 2005-2007

Nicholas Fisher (Australia) 2007-2009

Yves Grize (Switzerland) 2009-2011

Vijay Nair (Malaysia/USA) 2011-2013

Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi (France) 2013-2015

David Banks (USA) 2015-2017

Nalini Ravishanker (USA/India) 2017-2019

Fabrizio Ruggeri (Italy) 2019-2021

The complete history of ISBIS until 2023 is available in the article “Internazional Society for Business and Industrial Statistics (ISBIS): The Evolution of Business and Industrial Statistics in the International Statistical Institute", available here