Here at the BABC we have also had a very positive start to the year. In January we hosted the 31st Annual Economic Forecast Webinar. This incredibly well attended live webinar, sponsored by our Patron Member HSBC, gave us plenty to think about. Our thanks to Janet Henry, Chief Global Economist for HSBC, Sean Randolph from the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and to Richard Waters, West Coast Editor of the Financial times for a truly world class event. In February we hosted the 10th Annual Funding, Exits and IPO's event where our Venture Capitalists shared their thoughts on the outlook for 2021. Thanks again to Richard Waters for Moderating and to Claudia Fan Munch of NEA, Bill Reichert of Pegasus Ventures, Steve Goldberg of Air Access and Mitchell Kertzman of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners for providing us with another fun, informative and engaging event. We also hosted our first Pub Quiz of 2021 in partnership with the British Benevolent Society which was, as always, a fun evening of British-American trivia.

Looking forward, we are excited about introducing some new events to our calendar and while many of us are suffering some zoom-fatigue or have become ‘zoombies’ we believe these online gatherings do provide a fun and efficient way to create new relationships and deepen existing business connections and so I am pleased to announce that we have created a new event series, called BABC Coffee Connects which will be held bi-monthly on the second Wednesday at 10-11am PT. This event is designed for business networking in an informal yet structured environment. You can learn more here. Our next Coffee Connects will be held on April 14th. I hope you will join us and that you will add this as a recurring event to your calendar so that you can make the most of this networking opportunity.

In addition to the Coffee Connects event we will continue to host our ever poplar Virtual Networking Happy Hour (on the third Thursday) and on the March 18th edition, we are bringing back the British Benevolent Society to provide an update on their relief efforts for British citizens. If you are a British Citizen, or have dual-citizenship, consider joining BBS. Looking a bit further ahead, we have our annual Expats Event on April 28th. British Expats looking for advice on Immigration, International Tax, and retirement planning for your UK Pension will find this event to be extremely helpful.

Each month, and especially in the last 12months, we are proud to share details of the members that have supported us. THANK YOU to all of our members who have renewed, and especially during the Covid Year.