LABATT FOOD - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Division Manager - Lubbock
Alfred began his career with Labatt Food Service in 2007 as a National Account Sales Representative covering El Paso and West Texas. He was promoted to National Account Executive in 2012 and was responsible for new sales growth for the division. In 2013 Alfred was promoted to Division Manager overseeing Sales, Transportation, and Operations. Alfred graduated in 2005 from Texas Tech University with a degree in Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management.
Job Titles:
- Director of Communications
- Director of Communications at Labatt Food Service
Annie is the Director of Communications at Labatt Food Service. Before starting at Labatt, she was an Associate Professor and the Director of Galleries and Museums at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. She received her doctorate in Byzantine Art History from Yale University, holds three master's degrees, and has a bachelor's degree magna cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University. She was the recipient of a two-year Rome Prize at the American Academy of Rome and also worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is the author of three books: Art History 101… Without the Exams; Byzantine Rome; and Emerging Iconographies of Medieval Rome: A Laboratory of Images in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries.
Since 1980, Blair Labatt has been President of Labatt Food Service, now the tenth-largest broadline foodservice distributor nationally. Blair Labatt is also President of Food Service Risk Management, an insurance company formed for foodservice distributors. He is past Chairman of Unipro (formerly ComSource), the premier foodservice purchasing consortium.
Blair is a graduate of Princeton, Oxford, and the University of Virginia, and was formerly a professor of English at the University of Texas in Austin. In 2005, he published a book of literary scholarship on plot in the novels of William Faulkner.
Formerly Chairman of the Board of San Antonio Academy and Trustee of Texas Lutheran University, he has also been the Chair of the San Antonio Medical Foundation, the principal landowner in the San Antonio Medical Center. He founded and was Chairman of the Wellness Coalition of San Antonio, which conducts wellness programs at San Antonio places of employment. He is presently Chairman of OPERA San Antonio, a non-profit founded in 2015 to bring operatic performance to San Antonio.
He founded and for 37 years was Chairman of the Princeton Book Prize, an annual contest to choose the most outstanding high school juniors in San Antonio. He was nominated to stand for election to the Board of Trustees of Princeton University. He served on the Executive Committee of the Alumni Council of Princeton University, and served on the Advisory Council of the Princeton Department of English.
Job Titles:
- Service in 2004 As a Business Analyst
- Vice President of Purchasing & Marketing
- VP of Purchasing
Breann joined Labatt Food Service in 2004 as a Business Analyst, and later became Director of Business Analysis. In 2012 she was promoted to Vice President of Purchasing and Marketing where she is responsible for all vendor relations and inventory management, including the work of over 22 buyers who purchase for five warehouses. She is a graduate of St. Mary's University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering.
Job Titles:
- Produce Purchasing Manager
Job Titles:
- District Manager - Harlingen
John has been with Labatt since November 2001. John started in the training department and became Transportation Manager in March of 2002. Prior to Labatt, John worked for ten years at Nabisco Foods, where he was in charge of distribution centers in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. He is responsible for the work of almost 300 drivers across Labatt's five distribution centers and four depots.
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance and Accounting
Job Titles:
- District Manager - Austin
- District Manager for Labatt Food Service
- District Sales Manager, Austin
Kara Bills is the District Manager for Labatt Food Service in Austin, TX. Kara began her career at Labatt in 2008 in San Antonio as a Produce Specialist and Buyer and eventually became the Produce Marketing Manager. In 2013 Kara moved to El Paso to oversee operations as the District Manager, and in 2021 made the move to Austin, TX. She is a graduate of Texas Tech University with a Bachelor's Degree in Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management and also holds a Certificate of Completion of the IFDA Executive Development Program for Foodservice Distribution Executives from the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business
Job Titles:
- District Manager - El Paso
- District Manager for Labatt Food Service
- District Sales Manager, El Paso
Paola Garcia is the District Manager for Labatt Food Service in El Paso, TX. She began her career with Labatt in 2012 as a Sales Representative in El Paso. She handled some of the largest school districts and national accounts in the area, extending to New Mexico. In 2021, Paola was promoted to take over the District Manager position overseeing sales, customer service, and transportation. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Supply Chain Management from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Job Titles:
- Division Manager - Houston
- Division Manager of Labatt
- Divison Manager - Houston
Pat Wilson is Division Manager of Labatt's distribution center in Houston, where he oversees sales, customer service, transportation, and warehouse operations. He started with Labatt in 2004 as a National Account Sales Representative for five years and then as Sales Manager for four years. Before joining he worked as the Director of Student Nutrition with Spring Branch ISD, Director of Student Nutrition with Alvin ISD and Dining Services Procurement Manager with Continental Airlines. He graduated from University of Houston with a Bachelor's of Science in Hotel & Restaurant Management at the Conrad Hilton College. Under his leadership, Labatt's Houston sales have grown and resulted in major warehouse expansions in 2009 and 2021.
Job Titles:
- Division Manager - Dallas
- Division Manager for Labatt
Rita LaCroix has been the Division Manager for Labatt in Dallas, Texas since 1998. Rita joined Labatt after working at Land O'Lakes Foods where she was employed as a Sales Representative in Chicago and Boston. Rita has worked for Labatt since 1991 when she started as a National Accounts Representative. She was the National Accounts Manager before being promoted to Division Manager. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics.
Tony is the Executive Vice President of Labatt Food Service. He has been with Labatt Food Service since 1986. Tony is a 1983 graduate of Texas Lutheran with a BS in Math and Computer Science, and he was a scholarship baseball player. He also received a Master's in Business from Our Lady of the Lake University in 1985. Tony is currently the corporate contact for $70 million in business and is responsible for new regional restaurant chain development in Texas. He also is the business lead for all software development in support of sales. Tony has previously served as Labatt's Chief Information Officer. He was the former CIO and CFO for Labatt for 26 years. He is a 14 year YMCA board member, was Chairman of the board for YMCA of Greater SA April 2009-April 2011, was Chair of San Antonio Mayor's Fitness Council 2010-2012, and was a Board member of the Wellness Coalition of San Antonio.
Job Titles:
- District Manager - Corpus
Job Titles:
- Director of Military Sales