Oral history interview with Willis Daniel

Abstract

Daniel focuses on the origin and growth of the National Machine Accountants Association (NMAA), later the Data Processing Management Association (DPMA). He describes how the changes in business data processing in the 1940s and 1950s led to the creation of NMAA in an effort to pool knowledge and resources as well as increase the professionalism of the emerging position of data processing manager. Daniel discusses the development of the associations organizational structure as it grew. In this context, he describes the start of chapters, NMAA's merger with the National Tabulating Management Society, and the growth of NMAA's support structure. Daniel reviews the accomplishments of NMAA and DPMA presidents and notes the contributions, especially in education, of NMAA and DPMA to the development of data processing management.