BABC Texas is delighted to welcome three new board members, following our AGM earlier this year.
Lee-Anne Cottle Barraclough: 
Lee-Anne is North America Sector Director for Clean Energy and Growth at the UK’s Department of Business and Trade. Responsible for promoting exports to the North American continent of British goods and services, two way investment between the UK and North America, and mutual improved market access to grow bilateral trade.
She was previously SABIC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, based in Houston, responsible for the Americas. Prior to this role, Lee-Anne worked in London for Shell International where she held the position of Vice President External Relations for UK, Nordics and Ireland responsible for Shell’s upstream and downstream businesses. During this time, Lee-Anne was seconded to the USA to lead Shell’s US Energy Transition approach, defining strategic direction and stakeholder engagement. Lee-Anne joined Shell International in London and held a variety of Commercial and External Relations roles. She was born in Dallas; received a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Management from Houston Baptist University and resided in the UK for over 25 years.
Matthew Morgan:
Matthew joined Wells Fargo as a Director, Middle Markets, in 2022. Prior to this he held similar roles in England, Australia and New Zealand as well as working in the foreign exchange markets in London. Matthew also worked for HSBC in New York City for several years, and was on the Steering Committee for the Great British Business Club (GBBC) established to promote transatlantic business.
Matthew lives in North Dallas, and enjoys the great outdoors, specifically hiking, polo and travel.
Joe Blackman MBE:
Joe Blackman MBE is a serial entrepreneur and investor who spends his time between the US and UK working on several startup ventures and investments. His specific interests are in the events, hospitality, creative and technology sectors.
Joe also runs a consultancy business, providing executive mentoring and growth advisory services to entrepreneurs. He has specific interests in international trade and leveraging UK/US/Middle East relations.
He relocated to Texas in 2020 to maximize the huge opportunities for business within the state. He previously was based in Dallas and now lives in Austin.
Joe has been awarded some of the highest national honors from the UK, Texas and Kentucky. In 2022 he was made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to the Economy and Charity. Joe was made an Honorary Texan by Governor Abbott and the Secretary of State and commissioned a Colonel and Aide de Camp to Governor Beshear in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Joe started out by founding a global events and hospitality business in his early twenties after a year working for the International Olympics Committee in Doha, Qatar. He grew this to a multimillion-dollar organization based in London and New York specializing in planning events for royalty, celebrities and ultra-high net worth individuals. He was responsible for events with over 80,000 attendees and 3000 staff. He exited the business in 2019 before widening his interests into other sectors and businesses.
He was one of the youngest criminal magistrate judges ever appointed by The Lord Chancellor of the UK and sat part time in Westminster and City of London Magistrates Court’s presiding over criminal civil, and company prosecution cases. He also sat on appeals in The Old Bailey and Southern Crown Court and on numerous judicial committees.
Joe’s philanthropic interests focus on helping young people from underprivileged backgrounds start and grow their businesses. He was instrumental in helping set up a high growth mentoring unit for The Princes Trust, founded by King Charles and is proud of the success stories from the young people he has supported to achieve great things.
Joe holds an MBA from the University of South Wales, UK and has lectured across numerous global universities on Entrepreneurship, Events and Hospitality and Law such as Oxford University, Columbia University, Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, Cardiff University and the London School of Economics. He is frequently featured across global broadcast media outlets such as BBC, Sky News, Fox News, Bloomberg and CNN.