Drawing on an 11-year international career as a petroleum engineer, Claudia Cruz-Betancourt provides clients with invaluable first-hand business knowledge and relocation experience, whether they are moving within Houston or to and from overseas. Claudia and her husband, a petroleum engineer, have lived and worked in Abu Dhabi, Italy, Qatar, and Ecuador. She earned her MBA while abroad and, after t
hey settled permanently in Houston, made a career change to real estate sales with John Daugherty, Realtors. With her international perspective, Claudia excels in assisting clients from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds to navigate successfully through their home sale or purchase. “Living and working as an expat for more than 20 years helps me understand the challenges my clients face when they are away from their home countries, and what they need when they arrive at a new place,” she observes. A native of Bogota Colombia, Claudia received her BA in petroleum engineering from Universidad America in Bogota and her MBA from Manchester University in the UK. “I speak Spanish and Italian fluently, and have conversational Dutch and Arabic. In a multi-lingual region like Houston, I provide a real advantage for many clients,” she says. While stationed abroad, Claudia maintained extensive volunteer commitments in addition to her career. In Abu Dhabi, she updated the data base for expat residents, published a monthly newsletter for expat families, and volunteered for Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in finance, human resources, insurance claims, and patient management. In Italy, she assisted the Society of Petroleum Engineers in Milan; in Qatar, she managed the database for the Spanish Speaking Ladies Group in Doha, published their newsletter, and organized fundraisers to assist people in need. Claudia is an avid runner, golfer and reader. She and her husband continue to travel internationally, as tourists, whenever their busy schedules permit.
