Wesley Lambert

Wesley Lambert, CPA
Lambert at Jamie's Italian Sydney opening 2011
Born	L. Wesley Lambert (1975-07-18) 18 July 1975 Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.
Education	Goizueta Business School, Harvard University ALM Candidate
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Spouse(s)	Liz Lambert (m. 2013)

Wesley Lambert, CPA, (born July 18, 1975), is an American-Australian entrepreneur, restaurateur, and CFO of the Velocity Group, a group of retail, wholesale, manufacturing, property, hospitality consulting, and pharmaceutical companies.

Background

Lambert as UN Peace Keeper

He was born to English-American and Native-American parents in Tallahassee, Florida and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, Dallas, Texas and Bainbridge, Geprgia. He later moved to Atlanta, Georgia to attend Emory University.

In 1995, Lambert joined the United States Army as a Medic, and served as a United Nations Peacekeeper in the Republic of Macedonia. Lambert was Decorated with a Good Conduct Medal, ARMY Achievement Medal, AF Service Medal, UNPREDEP Medal, and an Honorable Discharge.

In 1997 he returned to Atlanta on a US Army Green-to-Gold ROTC scholarship to pursue his business degree at Goizueta Business School at Emory University where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta and after graduation served at the Chapter Advisor for Phi Delta Theta and held positions on the Goizueta Business School Alumni Board & as a Mentor.^[1][2]

Family history

Lambert is the great-great-great-great-great grandson of Zoath Spooner (1763-1865),^[3] a recognized veteran who fought in the American Revolution and who is now honored in Decatur County^[4] and the great-great-great-great&great-grandson of Dock Lovinsky Lambert (1833-1913) who fought in the American Civil War.^[5] Lambert's line in the United States can be traced back 9 generations, and back to England 10 generations.

Night clubs

Lambert w/ CeeLo Green 2006

After an injury to his eye ended his military career, Lambert earned a position as an Investment Banking analyst with SunTrust in the restaurant capital group. Following two years in the group, Lambert focused his recently acquired talents in hospitality analysis into the operations side of the hospitality industry. His career started as the General Manager at the Tongue & Groove nightclub in Atlanta in 2001.^[6] After honing his hospitality skills, Lambert opened the award winning Compound Nightclub in 2004 with Usher headlining the opening weekend.^[7][8] Lambert oversaw 2 1/2 years of successful business, including dozens of celebrity events,^[9][10]

national & international product releases, and corporate events. During this time, Compound won major local & regional best nightclub awards and the national new nightclub of the year award (2005).^[11] Lambert sold his interests in Compound and moved to Thailand in 2006.^[12]

Lambert w/ Usher 2004

Restaurants

Lambert w/ Jaime Oliver 2012

Following a year break, Lambert moved to Sydney, Australia in 2007. Lambert met Kingsley Smith (founder of Kingsley's Restaurant Group) and formed & led the IPO^[13] of Pacific Restaurant Group,^[14] Australia's first full-service public company restaurant group including the Kingsley's & Chophouse brands. Lambert served as a Founding Director, as Company Secretary, and as the Financial Controller.^[15][16][17] Pacific Restaurant Group has since been acquired by the Keystone Group.^[18][19]

In March 2010, Lambert met Jamie Oliver.^[20] This meeting resulted in a partnership agreement between Pacific Restaurant Group and Jamie's Italian International to open Jamie's Italian restaurants exclusively in Australia^[21] and New Zealand.^[22][23] The first Jamie's Italian opened in Sydney, Australia in 2011 and has since opened in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Paramatta and Perth.^{[24][25][26][27]}

While in Australia, Lambert earned his Chartered Secretary designation from Chartered Secretaries Australia, his CPA from CPA Australia and sat on the NSW & Queensland boards of Restaurant & Catering Australia.^[28][29][30] In addition, Lambert was granted Australian citizenship for his contribution to the Australian economy, and is now a dual citizen of the USA and Australia.

In 2012, Lambert returned to the United States where he consulted for Samba Brands Management in 2012,^[31] the founders of Tongue & Groove in 2013-2014^[32] and owners of House Nightclub in 2014-2015^[33] on growth strategies, financial management & business development.

Lambert w/ Nicky Hilton 2005

Current

Lambert serves as the CFO of the Velocity Group, which holds interests in multiple businesses, including Todd Barrett Swimwear - an international online woman's swimwear retail company, Bitsy's Bikinis - a swimwear manufacturing and wholesale company selling under multiple brand names including Bitsy's Bikinis, Bitsy's Wholesale, Tiny Bikini Swimwear & Bitsy's Bands, Velocity Properties - a residential property firm, Velocity Hospitality Consulting, and J. Bakes LLC, an Oregon-based retail & wholesale pharmaceutical company.^[34]

Personal

Lambert is a member of the American Legion, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe,^[35] CPA Australia, Chartered Secretaries Australia, the Phi Delta Theta Presidents Panel & Knights of Pallas, the Goizueta Alumni Entrepreneur Network, the Goizueta Alumni Real Estate Network, the Goizueta Partners and Lamplighters Society, serves as a Mentor to MBA candidates at Goizueta Business School,^[36][37] and is a Member of the Atlanta Track Club.^[38]

Lambert is a Master's candidate at Harvard Extension School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pursuing a Masters of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies (ALM)- Management.^[39]

Lambert is married to New York socialite Liz Lambert^[40] and is the father of Grace Elizabeth Lambert, born 8/27/2015.^[41]

References