SmithBucklin

Smithbucklin, based in Chicago, is an association management company,   founded in 1949 with secondary offices in Washington, D.C.; Old Lyme, Connecticut; St. Louis, Missouri; and San Ramon, California.

William E. Smith started the company with nine client organizations—headlined by the Popcorn, Seed Pea and Frozen Potato Products Institutes—and just 22 employees. On July 24, 2004, Smith died at age 90.

During the Dot-com bubble of 1997–2001, some of Smithbucklin's client associations encountered "painful" financial cutbacks.

On June 29, 2005, the company became employee-owned.

In 2011, Smithbucklin contracted for 111,081 sqft at Chicago's former IBM Building, 330 N. Wabash Ave., under a 15-year lease that was set to begin in 2013.

Acquisitions
Acquisitions have fueled Smithbucklin's recent growth, including public relations firm Tech Image Ltd. (2007); medical education provider The France Foundation (2011); stakeholder-alliance firm Inventures Inc. (2013); ad-sales firm The Townsend Group (2015); incentive-travel company SDI (2016); and live-event experience design agency 360 Live Media (2018).