The Calibration and Validation Group (CVG) was founded in early 1995 by Herman Lam, Chung Chow Chan and YC Lee in Toronto, Canada. At that time, the requirements and the practices of method validation, analytical system qualification and instrument performance verification were only discussed individually among a very small group of professionals; the founders realized that there was a need to form a scientific organization to focus on those subjects and share the learning. Initially, the membership was mainly derived from the regulated pharmaceutical industry, but the participation has grown over the years to include scientists from a wide range of backgrounds, including pharmaceuticals, chemicals, environmental, food, distilleries, biotechnology, instrument vendors, government agencies, local colleges and universities. CVG was officially incorporated as a nonprofit organization in Canada in 1999.