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Claude-Alix Bertrand (born 19 November 1975) is a Haitian-American professional polo player with a 2-goal handicap, Ambassador UNESCO Itinerant Pour Haiti, Special Olympics Global Ambassador, polo team captain and luxury magazine publisher. He played polo and toured the world with the United States Polo Association’s Menlo Club for 10 years and founded Haiti Polo Team in 2013. He is the captain of the Haiti Polo Team, the national polo team of Haiti, which won World Cup in 2014, the SF Open Cup in 2015, and finished runner-up in the World Series Polo in Australia in 2017. He holds the title Ambassador UNESCO for Haiti, which was bestowed upon him in 2014 by then-President of Haiti Michel Joseph Martelly. He is also the president of the Federation Haitienne de Polo (Haitian Polo Federation) and a global representative for tourism and sport in Haiti. In 2017, he began publishing a monthly, modern-luxury magazine “Polo Lifestyles.”

In an interview with No Filter in January 2022, Bertrand accused former Minister of Youth and Sport and national youth soccer leader Evans Lescouflair of sexually assaulting, sexually abusing and raping him during his tenure at Institution Saint-Louis de Gonzague in the late 1980s. Lescouflair has been previously accused of pedophilia, dating back to 2010.

Life and Career

Born in Port-au-Prince to Haitian diplomats Yves-Alix Bertrand and Jessie Coles, he studied at Institution Saint-Louis de Gonzague with other notable students like Laurent S. Lamothe. He learned to play polo in Barbados while staying with his aunt Jacqueline Coles Austin, former Miss Grace Haiti. He moved to California to study international business. He holds a masters of art in Interior Architecture from L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in France. He founded and operated the restaurant chain and catering company Standing Room Only in San Francisco. His design firm, Atelier Bertrand, operated in San Rafael. He closed his design firm to pursue his career as a professional polo player full-time on Team USA. He founded Haiti Polo Team in 2013.

In 2015, he launched a development project to build a polo-sailing-racing luxury resort in Cotes-de-Fer, southern Haiti. The resort is under construction. In 2017, he founded the publication “Polo Lifestyles.”

He has been featured on the cover of Sidelines magazine “Hot Haitian and On Fire,” on the cover of the inaugural issue of “Polo Lifestyles” and featured on blogs: l’Union Suite, Kreyolicious, Comme Coco, The Huffington Post, and Haitian Hollywood.

Stats:

Nationality: Haitian-American

Occupation(s): Professional polo player, entrepreneur, publisher

Sport: Polo