In America the Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke, of the Container Corporation of America, founded the Aspen Design Conference after World War II as a way of bringing business and designers together – to the benefit of both. In 1951 the first conference topic, "Design as a function of management", was chosen to ensure the participation of the business community. After several years, business leaders stopped attending because the increased participation of designers changed the dialogue, focusing not on the need for collaboration between business and design, but rather on the business community's failure to understand the value of design.