The organization was founded in 1916 as the National Industrial Conference Board ( NICB ) . At the time , tensions between labor and management in the United States were seen as potentially explosive in the wake of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 and the Ludlow Massacre in 1914 . In 1915 presidents of twelve major corporations in the United States and six leading industry associations met in Yama , New York to formulate the business community ’s response to continued labor unrest and growing public criticism
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Conference Board