Structure
More than 60 years ago, DECA organized around an ambitious goal: to improve education and career opportunities for students interested in careers in marketing, management and entrepreneurship. Membership includes 180,000 students and advisers throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guam, The People's Republic of China China, Korea, Japan, and Germany.
DECA is divided into four divisions: High School, Collegiate DECA (College Division), Alumni, and Professional.
The High School Division is composed of chapters (DECA organizations within one school) grouped under a state association by regions, districts, or areas. Internationally, state associations are grouped together in four regions; North Atlantic, Central, Southern, and Western
Collegiate DECA is organized in much the same way as High School DECA, except that chapters are by college, not high school. Collegiate DECA's membership is smaller than the high school division. Collegiate DECA, previously called Delta Epsilon Chi, was formed in 1961 during the American Vocational Convention in Kansas City. Representatives from the three states: Wisconsin, Washington, and Kansas met with the National DECA staff to organize post secondary involvement in the upcoming DECA National Leadership Conference. On December 18, 1961, the Wisconsin State Board of Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education approved the newly created constitution for the Wisconsin Distributive Education Association. As a result, DECA chapters were formed on the following campuses: Green Bay (first chapter), Kenosha, Madison, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, and Wausau. The leadership group establishing policy included Charles Christianson, Richard Ashman, Wayne Little, Vernon Swenson and Walter Chojnowski. This division functions as a student/professional division. "Virtual membership" is available for students wishing to be involved in the organization from a school without an active Collegiate DECA Chapter.
The Alumni division is for former DECA members, giving them a way to participate in DECA and give back to the organization after high school or college.
The Professional Division is made up of individuals who have become business or marketing professionals and are interested in helping to develop the next generation of business and marketing leaders. Between 1937 and 1946 local clubs of distributive education students were formed to fulfill the need of cooperative education students to belong, to develop socially, and to be a part of a group. In 1944 the state clubs in the area then designated as the Southern Region, announced that they had joined together under the common name of the Distributors' Club. This association was announced at that year's American Vocational Association convention. In February 1946 a national planning committee appointed to develop a tentative plan for the organization of a distributive education club on a national level.
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