On November 20, 1970, while completing a dissertation examining school systems led by Black superintendents, Dr. Charles D. Moody, Sr. invited several African-American superintendents to a meeting at the O'Hare Marriott Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. The purpose of the meeting was to share concerns, develop a resource pool, and to form an organization of Black school superintendents. Representing the Metropolitan Applied Research Center (MARC), the organization that helped to fund the early meetings, were Hylan Lewis, Director of the Fellowship Program and Dixie Moon, Executive Administrator.