Upon reaching Canada, he was employed by the
Imperial Bank of Canada until 1879. From 1880 to 1882, he was general manager of the
National Telephone Company of England before moving to
Washington, D.C., to be secretary of the new
Bell Telephone Company, founded by his cousin, and organize the private banking firm of Bell & Co. Bell traveled to Paris to set up branches of the company in Europe. In 1889 when the
American Security and Trust Company of Washington was organized, Bell became vice president. Four years later, he became president (for thirty-five years) and in 1928 became chairman of the board of directors. He was also president of the
Norfolk & Washington Steamboat Company, and was an incorporator of the
American Red Cross, a trustee of the George Washington Memorial Association and of the American University, chairman of the Finance committee of the Public Library, and a member of the board of the Washington Sanitary Housing Company and of the Chapter of
Washington Cathedral. He also served as chairman of the
Potomac Electric Power Company and the
Washington Railway and Electric Company, president of the
Enquirer Building Company of Cincinnati, a director of the
Terminal Refrigerating and Warehouse Company, Washington Market Company, Security Storage Company,
Real Estate Title Insurance Company, Columbia Title Assurance Company, and Columbia Sand and Gravel Company, the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of New York and the three allied telephone companies and the Braddock Electric Light Company.
National Geographic Society In 1888 Bell co-founded the
National Geographic Society, and was its first treasurer. He bought the property for the headquarters of the society, where it still is. ==Personal life==