About BBS
The British Benevolent Society of California (BBS) is a 501(c)(3) charity who provides aid and relief to British Citizens in need. Our support comes from generous donations, legacies and fundraising by members, and our community in California.
Who we are
The BBS is made up of predominantly volunteer members, 11 of whom form a Board of Directors who manage the charity and its activities. The Board of Directors each carries a position of responsibility. Through discussion and unity they make all decisions which determine how the charity continues to succeed and deliver its mission.
Individual crisis cases are also bought to the Board in order to discuss and determine if they qualify for financial support from the BBS. The Board is also responsible for fundraising, the investment and management of the charitable monies, legal alignment, coordination with the British Consulate and the marketing of the BBS organization.
Most importantly the BBS Board is focused on helping and supporting British Nationals, residing in the states covered by the Consulates General offices in California, who are desperate and quite literally have no where else to turn for help. The BBS relies on the support of a paid membership program and welcomes anyone who would like to join and help support its cause.
Membership for a year costs a modest $100 and allows the member an opportunity to attend all BBS events and fund raisers whilst supporting individuals who are in desperate need.
Message from our President
Dear Members, Friends, and Supporters,
It is both an honor and a privilege to address you as the President of the British Benevolent Society of California. As we stand at the threshold of a new chapter, I am inspired by the remarkable legacy of compassion and community that defines our 170 year old organization.
The heart of our mission lies in aiding and providing relief to British citizens west of the Rocky Mountains facing challenges, embodying the spirit of support and shared responsibility. Together, we form a community that transcends borders and embraces the values of generosity and kindness.
Our focus on the future is unwavering. We envision a BBS that not only continues to transform lives but also evolves to meet the ever-changing needs of our community. With a strong emphasis on collaboration and innovation, we are dedicated to expanding our impact and reaching even greater heights.
As we embark on this journey together, I invite each of you to be an integral part of shaping the future of the British Benevolent Society. Your support, ideas, and engagement are invaluable as we work towards a future where no one in our community faces challenges alone.
I am excited about the opportunities ahead, and I am committed to leading the BBS with dedication, transparency, and a shared vision of creating positive change.
Thank you for being an essential part of our mission. Together, let's build a future where compassion knows no bounds.
Warm regards,
Alex Sinclair
President
British Benevolent Society of California
Board of Directors
Alex Sinclair - President
British-born Alex J Sinclair is a seasoned management consultant for The Nightingale specializing in pre-seed company foundational development. With 20 years of intra/entrepreneurial expertise, he has pioneered products and subsidiaries for clients such as Pearson Education, McGraw Hill, JTB, De Agostini Editore, and Britannica. Alex holds a BA (Hons) in Film, an MA in Advertising, and an MBA. In his free time, Alex established Willow on the Green, a British Cheese shop in Inner Sunset, San Francisco, and is expanding several food brands.
Karen Beale - Vice President
Karen is a dynamic, results driven Executive who founded Sirella, a consulting business to focus on helping companies accelerate Growth by turning Strategy Into Results (SIR). Sirella helps companies scale their sales and customer facing activities. She also works with High Net Worth individuals on sourcing and consigning Fine Art.
With a solid track record of building and developing Sales teams to deliver double digit growth in Silicon Valley and large Public Companies, she has personally been responsible for overseeing over $1bn of strategic sales in her career in global SaaS based software, data and analytics companies. Sectors such as retail banking, financial services, retail & sporting venues.
Leveraging this extensive experience to help leaders scale their businesses and sales professionals think more strategically about how they engage with third parties, add value to prospects and clients, execute more effectively, think more creatively about how to accelerate achieving their goals.
Combining a passion for Art & Science Karen also co owns Artonomi Fine Art, a Gallery in Ark Row Tiburon which leverages her interest in Fine Art from Contemporary and Modern works to 19th Century British, French Impressionism & post Impressionism, gained whilst studying at L’Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Montpellier, France.
Karen joined the Board of Directors of the BBS in order to give back to Brits seeking help and support. Karen knows through first hand experience what it’s like to have a major life changing event so far from home in California and that experience changed her life. She strives to do her best to make a difference for people facing tough times, while meeting new British people and having fun.
Kelly Ducourty - Director
Kelly Ducourty is UiPath Inc.’s Chief Customer Officer. Kelly is a seasoned technology executive with 25 years of experience excelling in Enterprise Sales, Service Delivery, and IT transformation. She has led large sales teams, driven revenue generation, and expanded businesses across four continents. Kelly's expertise includes securing mega deals, handling inside sales, and implementing online GTM models. She is adept at leading major turnaround projects and managing multibillion-dollar P&Ls, with a strong focus on subscription-based models. Prior to joining UiPath in 2023, she was VP of Global Strategy & Operations at Google Cloud, where she drove significant growth. Before that, she held senior leadership roles at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, leading global sales and transformation efforts. Kelly has also served on the Board of Directors of Fortinet and C2C. Kelly is committed to STEM education and women's career development, holding leadership positions in philanthropic organizations. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Marketing Management from Bournemouth University.
Steve Wares - Chief Financial Officer
Steve is a UK qualified chartered management accountant, CFO of the BBS and past-President of the British American Business Council. He has spent the past 25 years working with growth stage technology companies helping them with their international expansion support needs including global payroll, accounting, tax, compliance and HR. Steve has lived in the Bay Area since 2005 with his wife, two children and two dogs.
Kathleen Kimura - Director, Chair of Relief Committee
Kathleen Kimura, MBE, has worked for Tokyo Express Co., Inc. for over thirty years, and currently is Vice President. She was first elected to the BBS board in 2001 and has served several six-year terms since; as president from 2010-2011 and as president from 2012-2017. She currently serves as Chair of the Relief Committee. Kathleen also serves on the following boards or committees: BABC of Northern California since 1990 (Chairman and President 2001-2008); Japan Society of Northern California since 1989 (President 1995-97); Co-Chair, SF-Osaka Sister City Association; California-Japan Sister Cities Network; NORCAL Sister Cities International; Millbrae Sister Cities Commission, Chair, Millbrae Japanese Culture Festival Committee; Legion of the SF Consular Corp (LSFCC) and its US Support Committee. Affiliations include the Japan Society, London. Kathleen is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty the Queen in 2006. In 2013 she was awarded the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Award; in 2014 she was chosen as Millbrae’s Woman of the Year and awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays by the Emporer of Japan.
Arif Damji - Director
Arif is an investor at Conductive Ventures, an enterprise-focused venture capital fund in Palo Alto, where he works to enable SaaS and hardware startups to become long-term leaders in their sectors. Prior to investing, he scaled a B2B SaaS solution through to acquisition, ran innovation for a private equity owned winery, and developed ROI-centric loyalty and retention initiatives for retail, consumer and travel brands.
He started his career as a strategy consultant specialising in marketing and sales at McKinsey & Company. He holds an MBA from Wharton Business School, MSc from Stanford University and MA from the University of Cambridge.
In his spare time, he is passionate about helping the arts adapt to serve future generations, as well as helping mentorship programmes develop young leaders, and supporting relief organisations serve local communities. He is known to enjoy the occasional hike with friends, is seen frequently at the Opera house, and loves to experience new cultures and places.
Karen Thomas - Director
Karen spent the major part of her career at the British Consulate General, San Francisco and retired in January 2012 after 26 years of service.
As Vice Consul (Management/Consular) and later Head of Corporate Services, Karen ran the management, human resources, facilities, property management, procurement, budget and consular services and worked closely with the British Benevolent Society for many years to assist and help the British nationals that needed assistance.
Karen has been a BBS Director for 10 years, and is now a member on the Events Committee. Karen has previously served as President, Vice President and has served on the Finance and By-Laws Committees.
Hedley Potts - Director, Chair of Events Committee
Hedley Potts is a British National who has been based here in the Bay for the last ten years. He is an innovative and execution oriented senior executive who has served in roles at Lloyds Bank in the UK, and global roles at HP, HPE and Google Cloud. He is currently the Vice President for Customer Experience and Sales Excellence at UiPath. He brings a wealth of experience from these roles to the BBS and serves as the leader of our Events Committee. Hedley has been a Director on the Board for 4 years.
Karen Leech - Director
Karen began her professional career in Northampton, England, initially working for two Scottish insurance companies and later as a financial advisor for Compton House Financial Management. Compton House originally had been part of Shoosmiths’ law firm before the law and financial segments were separated. After relocating to the United States in 2001, she joined Laird Norton Wetherby and in 2004, three years after arriving at Wetherby, she became a Shareholder. She is a Certified Private Wealth Advisor and alongside working with clients, she contributes to the firm’s client service and communications activities. She is a member of the Financial Planning Association of San Francisco, having previously served on the Board of Directors as its Treasurer. Karen sits on the Investment Committee for the BBS, and also serves as the Investment Committee Co-Chair for The Redwoods, a nonprofit senior retirement community in Mill Valley.
Karen lives with her husband and son in Novato, California. She is an avid tennis player and enjoys hiking and biking around the local countryside.
Penny Harwood - Director
Penny is the SVP Business Development at London & Partners and leads the San Francisco office and the Northwest region of the US and Western Canada. She advises and supports high-growth scaling technology companies to globalize to and grow in London as an entry to the UK and EMEA markets. She has deep expertise working with C level executives, across key sectors, in particular in SaaS, fintech, ecommerce, creative and sustainability. She also supports the highly successful trade services for London scale-ups including trade missions as they expand to the west coast. She is a super connector and passionate about purpose driven causes.
Prior to London & Partners, Penny was the Director of Customer Support, Starmine (acquired by Thomson/Reuters) in San Francisco. Previously she led west coast sales teams at Bloomberg L.P. in San Francisco. She moved from Bloomberg L.P in London where she focused on major buy-side clients in London and Paris. Penny has a BA (Hons) in French and Economics from Kingston University, London and is currently working on an EMBA with Quantic School of Business and Technology.
Andrew Jack - Director
Andy Jack is a Vice President in BlackRock's Cash Management team, responsible for distributing liquidity and short duration fixed income products to US corporate clients, multinational corporate clients and institutional investors. He is primarily focused on west coast and western US Headquartered clients, as well as pre-IPO companies across the US. Andy's previous role was in the EMEA Cash Management team in London, where he was responsible for business development and relationship management with BlackRock's bank clients across the UK & EMEA, as well as leading private bank distribution. Andy moved to San Francisco in September 2022.
Before joining BlackRock Andy served in the British Army, having commissioned from The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He completed his service as a Captain in The Royal Dragoon Guards.
Andy graduated from the University of Oxford with a 2:1 (Oxon) in Oriental Studies, and holds the CFA Investment Management Certificate (IMC), FINRA Securities Industry Essentials (SIE), Series 7 and Series 63 licences. He is a keen skier, enjoys country pursuits and is an avid rugby fan.
Nick Fey - Director, Chair of Technology Committee
Nick is a product designer at Apple and has spent 30 years designing and building Internet products and services. Nick was born and raised in London where he started his career building websites in 1994. He moved to the US in 2000 where he lead UI design and engineering teams at Sapient and JP Morgan, and spent 10 years leading design teams on Search at Google. In 2019 Nick joined his current role at Apple where he has the opportunity to teach employees creative thinking and developing creative confidence.
Nick is also involved in a Men’s Support Charity helping isolated men in the Bay Area where he volunteers on the marketing team. He lives in Mountain View, CA, has two sons and enjoys wine making, wing foiling and yoga.