Beatriz Illescas Putzeys-Claugus

With a lifetime career of service, education and diplomacy, Beatriz has enjoyed the many opportunities and challenges life has presented. From founding and running a pre- school in Guatemala while also teaching in the most well know Universities of the country to serving representing her country as Consul General to Houston, Miami and Atlanta to later creating The Foundation For A Better World, her life’s work has been rooted in service to people. She raised three daughters and today has a large and beautiful family. Beatriz has served as the Director of The Foundation For A Better World since its inception in 2011. Under her leadership, The FFBW has grown from broadly supporting eight organizations to highly involved support of twenty-eight organizations with a deep commitment to medical research.

From a very young age, Beatriz was exposed to the fragility of life when she lost her father at nineteen years old and two of her sisters shortly after – all to cancer. Her work at the consulate exposed her firsthand to many of the harsh realities and unimaginable circumstances that people in developing countries face, realities that her upbringing had largely shielded her from. The sum of these experiences combined with her career as an educator, translator and diplomat added to her earnest desire to give back, to listen and to be engaged.

During the foundation’s second year, Beatriz started to dream big. She wanted to create a prize to recognize outstanding research in Alzheimer’s Disease, a disease that her husband had always hoped to support. Through her research, she discovered that the ADDF already had such a prize and she immediately reached out to collaborate. Today, The Foundation For A Better World partners with the ADDF on numerous programs and trials and has chosen the ADDF as its primary funding recipient.

Beatriz has served on a number of boards, primarily in education, and feels tremendously honored to have been invited to serve on the ADDF Board of Governors. She is excited to learn from all of the incredible members on the board and to further the fight against Alzheimer’s.

Beatriz lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband Tom Claugus.