Council of Higher Education Management Associations

The Council of Higher Education Management Associations (CHEMA) is an informal voluntary assembly of management-oriented higher education associations in the United States and Canada. By sharing information, comparing experiences, and working collectively on projects of shared interest, CHEMA members maximize their resources and create substantial benefits for the colleges and universities they represent.

With NACUBO as its coordinator, CHEMA meets twice each year at various locations across the country. Membership is limited to nonprofit organizations that are national in scope and principally involved in serving managerial functions within higher education institutions. In addition, member organizations must have at least one full-time professional staff member, or equivalent through an association management company.

CHEMA traces its roots to a group of association executives who attended the NACUBO annual meetings in the late 1960s. Established in 1971, CHEMA's first meeting, with fifteen associations in attendance, was held in New York in conjunction with NACUBO's annual meeting. At that time, the organization was called Inter-Association Management-Related Group (IMRG). The organization was known as IMRG for eighteen years until it was decided, in June 1989, to change the name to better reflect the group's representation and affiliation with the higher education community.