The effort to launch a Central American business school began with a visit by HBS professors Harry Hansen and George Lodge to the State Department in Washington, in the early months of 1963. Hansen and Lodge asked if the Agency for International Development might be interested in supporting such a school.

AID was supportive, and suggested that a team of HBS faculty members tour Central America and determine what was feasible—a request that Dean George Baker promptly supported.

Several weeks later, a letter from President John F. Kennedy endorsing the infant project arrived on Baker's desk:

"I am informed that representatives of the Graduate School of Business Administration soon will be visiting Central America to review the feasibility of cooperating with business leaders and regional and national institutions in a high-level program to improve management.

"My recent talks with the Presidents of the Central American nations emphasized our mutual concern for the rapid development of human resources in this critical area. The participation of the Business School in a program to strengthen management would constitute a vital step toward sound regional integration, a major objective of the Alliance for Progress.

"I am delighted that you are taking an interest in this important work."