In 1985, Dr Ivan R Misner founded Business Network International, the largest networking organisation of its kind in the world. He initially started the first networking group in Southern California because he needed more quality referrals to keep his own consulting business afloat.

Not having succeeded in many other networking groups he participated in, he combined all the valuable aspects of these networking groups to a formula and system that would prove to be more successful than any other networking group in the world. Due to the fact that he allowed only one representative of each industry in each group, business people from around his area who could not join the original group started to form other groups, called chapters.

Successfully following the same agenda of the original group, chapters started to spring up all over the country and Dr Misner soon realized he had discovered a concept that could help people all over the world develop their businesses through effective networking, applying a structure and quantifiable system to the oldest marketing tool in the world, Word-of-Mouth.

Titled "The Networking Guru" by Entrepreneur magazine, Dr Misner has built BNI into a global organisation with over  5,000 chapter in over 40 countries, and still continues to grow.

Dr Misner's PhD is from the University of Southern California and specialises in organisational development. He wrote his doctorate on ‘Business Development Networks’ and has since published many books and other educational materials on management, sales, business development, networking and referral marketing.

Dr Misner is the author of the bestselling book, World's Best Known Marketing Secret, which in 1995 helped propel BNI into the largest and fastest growing referral organization in the world. A full list of publications is available in the Education Centre/Books on this website.

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