May 5/Waterloo, Ontario/Canada NewsWire -- Brick Brewing Co. Limited named Russell Tabata as chief technical officer reporting to George H. Croft, Brick's president and chief executive officer. Tabata's appointment is effective on May 25, 2009. Reporting directly to  Tabata will be Bill Henry, director Brewing, Quality and Logistics and Robert Richardson, director Engineering, Maintenance and Packaging. Tabata will be responsible and accountable for all operational aspects of the business.

Tabata graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. Sc, Mechanical Engineering degree and is a professional engineer registered in Ontario. Most recently, Tabata held the position of senior vice president operations/chief technical officer at Lakeport Brewing. Prior to joining Lakeport, Tabata held progressively senior roles at MolsonCoors including director, Reliability and Process Improvement, director Operations, and Packaging/Engineering manager.

"Russell has over 20 years of progressive experience in all aspects of the food and beverage business," said Croft. "He has a successful track record of developing and leading high-performance teams and brings an exemplary combination of business judgment, professional skills and integrity to the business. Russell has a proven ability to deliver significant operational improvements and sustainable results through people, processes and equipment."

"I am excited to be joining the Brick Brewing team and look forward to contributing to the significant changes and improvements already underway in the organization. I am sure that this will be both a challenging and rewarding period in the history of the brewery and am pleased to have an opportunity to be a part of it," said Tabata.

From the May 11, 2009, Prepared Foods E-dition