The New York State Association of DECA is sponsored as a co-curricular youth organization for students enrolled in a high school Business/Marketing Education class and/or those students pursuing Business/Marketing Education, including appropriate prerequisite courses in the Business/Marketing Education sequence. This organization is conducted under the auspices of the New York State Education Department’s Bureau of Business, Health, and Service Programs located in Albany, New York.

On April 27, 1973, the New York State Board of Regents formally voted to grant a Certificate of Incorporation to the Distributive Education Clubs of New York. The Association does business as New York DECA. New York State became affiliated with National DECA in 1951. For many years there were only a handful of DECA chapters throughout the State. The very first New York DECA chapter was organized in 1951 at Poughkeepsie High School by Dr. Joseph Hecht. Dr. Hecht also served as the first New York DECA State Advisor.

In 1960, Mr. Cecil Arnold came from Michigan to Rockland County to serve as State Advisor. That same year, Mr. Arnold issued charters to several chapters throughout the State. Nyack High School was the first chartered New York DECA Chapter. The chapter movement spread and the chartered chapters have grown from 18 active chapters in 1961 to more than 120 in the 1990’s. New York DECA membership in 1961 was approximately 300, today there are more than 5,500 members.

Under the leadership of Mr. Arnold, New York DECA flourished and in 1963, New York DECA delegates attended the National Leadership Conference in Chicago where Linda Penny Pfirmann became the first female National DECA President, of an organization which today has more than 150,000 members. She was the first New York DECA member to serve as a national officer in the high school division.