In the Spring of 1907, a group of commerce students at the University of Wisconsin received permission from the faculty to organize a commerce honor society, which they proposed to call Beta Gamma Sigma.  The purpose of the society was to encourage and reward scholarship and achievement in the field of business studies among commerce students at the University.  At about the same time, students at the University of Illinois and University of California felt the need for such an organization on their campuses and respectively organized Kappa Delta Chi and the Economics Club.  In 1913, having become aware of their coexistence and common purpose, representatives of the three societies meet in Madison, Wisconsin to consummate a merger which made Beta Gamma Sigma into a national organization.

Today, Beta Gamma Sigma is an international organization with 270 collegiate chapters and over 300,000 alumni living around the world.  Chapters are established at schools and colleges of business in the United States and Canada which are accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business.

Membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest scholastic recognition a student can receive in an undergraduate or master’s program in business or management.  To be eligible for membership, a student must rank in the upper 10% of the undergraduate class or upper 20% of the master class.