Bala K. Srinivas

Bala Krishna "Beekay" Srinivas, born Bindiganavale Krishniengar Srinivas, is an Indian American and the former mayor of Hollywood Park, Texas, in the United States of America.
Biography
Early life
Srinivas, eldest son of BR Krishna Iyengar and BS Lakshamma was born in 1930 in Bangalore (now Bengaluru), India. He grew up in the city of Hyderabad in the Nizam's Muslim state of Hyderabad. He attended All Saints' High School and graduated in 1946. He then got an associate degree in Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry from Nizam College in 1948 and got a bachelor's degree in Physics from Loyola College in Madras (Now Chennai). In 1950 he returned to Hyderabad and got a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, BE (Mech) from Osmania University in 1953. In 1952 he was named Captain of the Osmania University Tennis team for the All-India Inter-University Tennis Tournaments held at Annamalainagar in the then-state of Madras.
Career
After completing one year of Apprenticeship at the Praga Tools Corporation in Hyderabad in 1954, he was employed as Superintendent, Workshop in Osmania Engineering College in 1955. In February 1956 he came to the United States and enrolled as a Graduate Student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and got a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering [MSE(ME)] in January 1957. He was employed at the Warner & Swasey Co., in Cleveland where he worked for one year. In 1958 he returned to India and was employed at the Tata Locomotive and Engineering Co (TELCO) in Jamshedpur, Bihar from 1958 to 1961. In 1961 he was employed at The Praga Tools Corp., in Hyderabad as a Project Officer. In 1965 he was promoted to Divisional Manager, Forge & Foundry Division of the company reporting to the General Manager.

In September 1958 Beekay got married to Dr. Sanyogita Rao in Hyderabad. Their daughter Vinita was born in September 1959. In the Fall of 1966 Beekay and his family immigrated to the USA where he worked for the Warner & Swasey Co., again from 1966 to 1979. The family then moved to Hollywood Park, TX, a suburb of San Antonio, where Beekay started a Management Consultancy business, Beekay Associates, and Geeta set up her office for the practice of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Vinita graduated from the Univ. of Texas at Austin with a BBA degree.

In 1972 the family was Naturalized as US citizens when Beekay officially shortened his name to Bala Krishna Srinivas and Sanyogita to Geeta Srinivas. In 1985 Vinita married a French immigrant, Benoit Luc Levet in San Antonio, Texas. They have a son, Maxim Renaud Levet, born in 1990 and a daughter, Gita Anjali Levet born in 1996. Both children are tri-lingual; Maxim in English, French, and Spanish and Gita in English, French, and Mandarin Chinese.
Political involvement
After moving to Hollywood Park in 1980 with his wife Geeta, Beekay was elected in 1985 to the Hollywood Park City Council. In 1988 he was elected Mayor and served three terms until 1994. In 1995 he was elected Councilman again and served until 1997.
Retirement
In November 1995 Geeta died in San Antonio, Texas. By this time Vinita and her family had moved to San Francisco, California. Beekay moved to San Francisco in November 1997 to be close to his grandchildren. He is now retired, but is active in the SF Park Presidio Sunset Lions Club; he has been a Lion since 1969. He is a life member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). He is interested in wildlife photography and has traveled to many wildlife parks all over the world.

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