About Us
A Brief History of the BACA in Dallas-Fort Worth
In 1980 David Harris the then British Consul in Dallas invited David Huntley and a few other British
business people to an informal lunch. The venue was a popular restaurant
on McKinney
Avenue
called Jenivines, which served typical English
fare from a menu written up on a chalkboard on the restaurant walls, which
became a regular meeting place for the Consul’s informal lunches.
After a number of these
gatherings David Huntley of
Huntley Associates (Dallas), Inc., and Paul Margetson,
the Manager of the then Plaza Of The Americas Hotel in Dallas, discussed
the question of whether some attempt should be made to form a
British-American Chamber of Commerce. This was suggested to David Harris
who subsequently passed on the suggestion to his successor David Hollamby. Mr. Tallboys, the Consul-General in Houston, was approached for his input and he provided Mr. Hollamby with the by-laws of the than fledgling
British-American Business Association in Houston
Texas.
A steering committee was formed and a set of by-laws were drawn up for the
formation of the British-American Commerce Association, (BACA) and
officers were elected with David Huntley as Chairman of the Executive
Committee and Charles McKinney as President. The first meeting of the
Executive Committee was held in October 1984. Ms. Vicky Durbec was appointed as our first Executive Director.
The British
business people in Dallas and the BACA have been fortunate to
have had the support of successive British Consuls in Dallas with David
Harris, David Hollamby, David Hallett, Joe Clark, Violet O’Hara, Paul Martinez,
and the last consul being Michael Morley prior to the Dallas Consulate
offices being closed by the British Government. The Consul
General’s offices in Houston maintain an
interest in our organization and a Consulor
officer serves on the BACA Board.
By bringing in national and
internationally known
speakers of high caliber for its luncheon engagements, BACA soon became
an influential business organization in Dallas. A luncheon event was organized in 1990 to bring
Mr. John Cleese, the TV and film actor to Dallas as a guest speaker. The monetary proceeds of this
event were presented by Mr. Huntley, then President of BACA, to the
Chairman of the World Cup Soccer Dallas '94 Steering Committee, at City
Hall in the presence of the Mayor, the late Annette Strauss. This seed
money was the first raised by any business organization in Dallas for the soccer event. This helped the city to win
the role as a major host site and main broadcast center for the World Cup
Soccer Tournament.
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