Lester W Lambert

Lester W. Lambert, CPA, (born July 18, 1975), is an American-Australian entrepreneur, eCommerce specialist, former restaurateur, and current CFO of the Velocity Group.
Background
He was born to English-American and Native-American parents in Tallahassee, Florida and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, Dallas, Texas and Bainbridge, Georgia. 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.
Night clubs
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. After honing his hospitality skills, Lambert opened the award-winning Compound Nightclub in 2004 with Usher headlining the opening weekend. Lambert oversaw 2 1/2 years of successful business, including dozens of celebrity events,
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). Lambert sold his interests in Compound and moved to Thailand in 2006.
Restaurants
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 of Pacific Restaurant Group, 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. Pacific Restaurant Group has since been acquired by the Keystone Group.
In March 2010, Lambert met Jamie Oliver. 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 and New Zealand. The first Jamie's Italian opened in Sydney, Australia in 2011 and has since opened in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Paramatta and Perth.
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. 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, the founders of Tongue & Groove in 2013-2014 and owners of House Nightclub in 2014-2015 on growth strategies, financial management & business development.
Current
Lambert currently serves as the CFO of the Velocity Group, which holds interests in multiple businesses, including Todd Barrett Swimwear - an international woman's swimwear retail eCommerce company, Bitsy's Bikinis - a swimwear manufacturing, retail eCommerce 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, J. Bakes LLC, an Oregon-based retail & wholesale pharmaceutical company, and owns & manages one of the largest Turo Rental Car Fleets in the Southeast.
Personal
Lambert is a member of the American Legion, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe, 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, and serves as a Mentor to MBA candidates at Goizueta Business School,.

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