About

Founder & CEO Wes Lambert CPA, FGIA, CAE, MAICD is the Former CEO of the 2020 Association of the Year Restaurant & Catering Australia (R&CA), the national industry association representing the interests of more than 55,000 restaurants, cafés and catering businesses across Australia and a winner of the AuSAE 2020 Influencer Award. He was praised by the Board for his "tireless" advocacy efforts on behalf of the industry. 

He is CPA qualified, a certificated Fellow of the Governance Institute, earned his Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation from and is a Member of AuSAE, is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors AICD and the Australian Retail Association ARA. Wes is also a recent Graduate of the Leadership Beyond the Theory program by Marty Moore. 

Wes is the Author of Saving Hospitality, One Venue at a Time and was named one of Australia’s “Most Influential Hospitality Heavy Hitters”. He has appeared on the Today Show, ABC News Breakfast, Weekend Sunrise, and Sky News, including on Alan Jones, interviewed live on 3AW, 2GB, 4BC, & ABC radio, and has been featured on ABC RN The Money. Wes has been quoted in The Australian, The Australian Financial Review and AFR Magazine, The Sydney Morning Herald, Good Food, The Age, The Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph & The Courier Mail, and featured in numerous podcasts, webinars and as a guest speaker at multiple conventions and events, speaking about his hospitality experience and on behalf of the industry.

Currently, Wes is the Deputy Chair of the Board of COSBOA (Leadership Team | cosboa), the Deputy Chair of the Board of AFAB (www.ausfab.org), and the Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee of the Children's Tumour Foundation (Leadership & Governance - Children's Tumour Foundation of Australia (ctf.org.au). 

Wes previously worked as Leader in AU with OpenTable, a global HospoTech subsidiary of Booking Holdings (Booking.com), as the CFO of Velocity Group, and was Executive Director, Secretary and Financial Controller for Pacific Restaurant Group Ltd (Kingsleys, ChopHouse, & Jamie’s Italian), Australia’s first public unlisted Full-Service Restaurant Group, from where he was responsible for the restructure and IPO of the Group as well as securing the Master Franchise Agreement for Jamie’s Italian in Australia/NZ.

Prior to that Wes was an Investment Banker in Restaurant Capital before owning and managing multiple hospitality venues in Asia and the United States and for over 24 years, has progressively built his executive hospitality level leadership, coaching, change management, lobbying, negotiation, governance, finance & accounting experience in diverse roles across multiple segments of the industry around the globe and enjoys the art of deal making. He possesses a strong work ethic and a can-do attitude with the problem-solving ability to make anything possible. “No” and “I can’t” are not in his vocabulary.