Beth Tzedec Announces the Promotion of Brian Dias to the Role of Director, Property Services
I am pleased to announce the promotion of Beth Tzedec’s long-time Property Manager, Brian Dias, to the position of Director, Property Services.
In this role, Brian’s oversight of our physical plant will formally extend beyond the synagogue facility at 1700 Bathurst to include our houses and beautiful cemetery at Beth Tzedec Memorial Park.
Brian has worked tirelessly since launching his career at Beth Tzedec in September 1989. Many of our members may remember Brian’s first supervisor – Rene Stakenbourg – who mentored Brian for 15 years before he retired and handed the role over in the early 2000s.
Since then, Brian has expertly built and led the maintenance and security teams. If there has been a renovation or building improvement over the past three decades, you can be assured Brian led the project.
We look forward to seeing Brian flourish in his new role, effective July 1st. Please join me in congratulating Brian as he gets ready to help usher Beth Tzedec into its 70th year.
Read below for a short Q&A we had with Brian as part of the announcement.
Q—What is your favourite memory of working at Beth Tzedec?
A—In years past, the Beth Tzedec Men's Club hosted a Sunday morning speakers series with interesting guests and an amazing breakfast. And the Hanukkah celebrations were also fun and exciting!
Q—What is the strangest thing that has ever happened?
A—The strangest thing that ever happened is also the reason I was promoted! Rene, Luke (handyman) and I were on-site, and the building alarms went off. The security company phoned but neither Rene nor Luke had the code to give to the security company to cancel the alarm code and turn off the alarms. The security representative then replied the other guy had the code yesterday! Brian had to explain to his superiors what the code was and where to find it.
Q—What is the biggest difference from when you started at Beth Tzedec?
A—Beth Tzedec was always busy with celebrations and the High Holy Days Service spilled over into the Banquet Hall. We’re working toward bringing the shul back to its heyday including beginning several projects to keep the building up-to-date and modernizing our facilities and systems.
Q—What is your favourite memory?
A—My favourite memory is all Purim plays which my kids also acted in, and the Summer Fun Days with USDS (now RHA) that I’d take my kids to.
Please join us in congratulating Brian on his stellar career at Beth Tzedec and wishing him good luck as he continues his journey.
