Speaker Profile

Wes Lambert is the Senior District Sales Manager for OpenTable, responsible for NSW, QLD, NT & ACT. He is the Former CEO of the 2020 Association of the Year Restaurant & Catering Australia (R&CA) 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 Fellow of the Governance Institute, earned his Certified Association Executive designation from AuSAE, and for over 23 years, has progressively built his executive level change management, lobbying, negotiation, governance, finance & accounting experience in diverse roles across multiple industries and sectors around the globe and enjoys the art of deal-making.

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, & 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.

Wes sits on the Board of COSBOA, the is the Deputy Chair of AFAB, is the Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee of the Children's Tumour Foundation.

Wes previously served on the ATO Shadow Economy Advisory Forum and as 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. He possesses a strong work ethic; a can-do attitude with the problem solving ability to make anything possible. “No” and “I can’t” are not in his vocabulary.