About
Us
A Brief History of the BABC 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 BABC 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 currently
Michael Morley.
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.
The organization was re-named in 2006 The
British-American Business Council of Dallas - Fort Worth (BABCDFW)
to better conform
to the nomenclature Chapters around the USA and the United
Kingdom. |
