Get to Know Bez Rengifo of the Rotary Club of Clayton
By Barbara Myers Myers Mason APR

Lifelong volunteer Bez Rengifo has a passion for giving back. This California transplant recently moved to Georgia to be closer to family, but his commitment to Rotary remains strong. In this inspiring story, Bez shares his journey in Rotary, his dedication to youth development, and the impact he's making on his new community. Get to know Bez Rengifo.


Born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Bez Rengifo spent most of his teenage and adult years in Southern California – living in Calexico, El Centro, Huntington Beach, Riverside, San Bernardino and Loma Linda. The pandemic and the death of his father influenced his family to move to Georgia in 2021 into a family cabin in Clayton. He wanted to be closer to his Atlanta-based mom.

“She turned 87 this past April and is still very active. I want to enjoy whatever years I can with my mom,” he said.

Fortunately for the Rotary Club of Clayton, Rengifo continued his involvement in Rotary which began in 2009 at the San Bernardino/Loma Linda Crossroads Rotary Club.
 
Bez Rengifo
He said, “I had been a lifelong volunteer and wanted a different environment where like-minded people were making an impact on humanity. During that year, I was turning 40 years young and contemplating ‘what did I want my legacy to be about?’”

Around the same time, Dr. Manzoor Massey, who later became a District Governor for District 5330, invited Rengifo to a Rotary club meeting.  

He said, “Being invited was the first step in why I joined and being around like-minded people who wanted to make this world a better place fit what I was looking for.”

Rengifo freely admits that he “loves” Rotary. “The machine is so complex that you can learn something new every day,” he said. “I’m naturally curious and it’s good to be the new face of Rotary. I stay because I have found a community of people who love to give back or pay it forward.”

“There is a high caliber of people who belong to Rotary clubs,” he added. “The relationships I have built have been beneficial to my career. I was seeking another avenue to give back and Rotary has given me 10-fold more that has surprised and delighted me.”
 
Jesus Medina, President, San Bernadino Sunset Club; John Capps, RYLA Speaker; and Bez as President of the San Bernadino Loma Linda Crossroads Rotary Club.

Rengifo views his “jam” with Rotary as Youth Services. He enjoys supporting Interact and EarlyAct clubs. In addition, he enjoys mentoring youth as a camp counselor for RYLA.

“I have served for multiple years, and it fills me up,” he said, adding that he has also been involved with Rotaractors, helping them build their “leadership muscle by giving them opportunities to lead and then getting out of the way.”  In the Rotary Club of Clayton, Rengifo also offers bilingual interpreting services for his club’s community dental program.

A club president in California in 2019-20, during his Rotary tenure he has also chaired the Membership Committee several times, served as Treasurer, Vocational Service Chair, Public Image Chair, Community Service Chair and as a participant in global grants for the International Service Committee.

During his term as president, his club attained over $750,000 in global, regional and community grants that impacted local communities and international regions. The club partnered with community service organizations and handed out 1,000 turkeys to those in need.

 
Bez poses with Jim Antosiak at the Rotary Club of Clayton Community Dental Clinic
Also, during his presidency, Rengifo led a two-day no-cost volunteer dental clinic for the city of San Bernardino where dental professionals performed 10,412 procedures, including fillings, extractions and cleanings, providing $1.46 million in care to 1,626 people. That same year, during the pandemic, he co-founded, mentored and helped organize an international Rotaract World Peace Conference for young professionals and provided support for a RYLA virtual camp in Ukraine.

In addition to Rotary, Rengifo formerly volunteered as a Youth Director, leading an 80+ member youth program, coached basketball and Little League baseball and served as an umpire and League president.In Georgia, he has served as the vice president of the Rabun County Friends of the Library, is currently serving as a board member-at large for Unite Rabun, a mental health initiative, as vice chair of the 9th Congressional District of the Latino/Latinx Outreach Committee and was elected secretary of the Latino Caucus for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Rengifo is a 30-year Human Resources/Talent Acquisition leader who has worked in the tech, agriculture, education, government, entertainment, security and healthcare sectors. One of his proudest career moments was when he was selected for the largest non-military recruitment project where he was part of the team that staffed 429 airports within the US and US territories. The team hired more than 45,000 people over a seven-month period for the Transportation Security Administration, which is now part of the Department of Homeland Security.

 
Bez Rengifo and his wife Yacenia.
Bez Rengifo and his wife Yacenia.
He is proud of his Latino heritage with his mom born in Puerto Rico and his late dad from Peru. He has been married to his wife, Yacenia, who is from Guatemala, for 29 years, and they have three adult children, Luis, Julian and Izabel.His son, Julian, has joined him in the family executive search business known as Mache’ International with offices in Georgia and Los Angeles. He established the business in 1997 and it was a going concern until 2001 when he jumped back into corporate America. In 2017, the business was reborn.

In his spare time, Rengifo and his family enjoy camping, sports, reading, and playing video and board games. He enjoys connecting with people as a professed extrovert. He is a Gallup’s Clifton Strengths (formerly StrengthsFinder) enthusiast, and notes that his top five strengths include maximizer, ideation, positivity, activator and winning others over.

Rengifo is an avid fan of the Miami Dolphins, the Atlanta Braves and the LA Lakers. When he is not rooting for his favorite teams, spending time with his family, or recruiting talent, you can find him giving back to both local and international causes.



 
Rotary Club of Clayton Christmas Parade with Bez.