ARI was founded by Michael S. Sherman, Ph.D., CAE, in 1984 after a successful career in association management. He started his career on the staff of the National Association of Furniture Manufacturers, where during his 10-year tenure he was Director of Economic and Market Research and, for three years, Executive Vice President. He also served as Executive Director of the Summer and Casual Furniture Manufacturers Association.

He received a B.S. in mathematics at Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Pittsburgh, where he specialized in industrial organization and econometrics. He served on the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives (GWSAE) Board of Directors, the GWSAE Foundation Board of Trustees, and the ASAE CAE Action Team.

Michael's writing credits included the chapter on Research and Statistics in the ASAE publication Professional Practices in Association Management, and he wrote the Marketing Research chapter in ASAE's Principles of Association Management. He also served as associate editor of the GWSAE Foundation publication, Marketing the Nonprofit Association.