NEW YORK, June 2, 2016 – Battalia Winston International announced today that Frederick Lamster has joined the firm as Partner in the Retail Practice.
Fred is a veteran human resources and staffing professional whose career spans more than 25 years. He has worked across all retail apparel and fashion segments, including department and specialty retail, eCommerce, and catalogue retailing.
Fred has used his expertise in organizational design and efficiency to help a number of major retailors through turnarounds, mergers, acquisitions and transitions. Throughout his career, he has transformed HR teams from tactical and transactional departments to strategic and results-oriented teams.
Before joining Battalia Winston, Fred was Chief Human Resources Officer for Orchard Brands, (recently acquired by Bluestem Brands) a $1.1 billion catalog marketer, where he was responsible for making key hires in merchandising, planning and production. He also served as SVP of Human Capital for Body Central, a Florida-based regional retailer that operated more than 250 stores.
As EVP of Human Resources for Charming Shoppes, parent company to plus-sized brands like Lane Bryant and Catherine’s Plus, Fred focused on aligning five disparate HR teams before developing an overarching hiring strategy that led the company to increased profitability and, later, a successful acquisition by Ascena Retail Group.
Fred was VP of Staffing for L Brands (formerly Limited Brands) for 12 years, an international company that operates a number of well-known brand names, including Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works. At L Brands, Fred was responsible a complete overhaul of the leadership teams across the company’s multiple business units. He made strategic hires at every level and spearheaded the rebuilding of the executive team as well as the merchant, design, production and planning teams.
In all of these roles, Fred built high-performing executive teams and developed an internal bench of future leaders. Fred has a keen understanding of creating HR strategies that align with overall business objectives. He takes pride in helping companies build HR programs that will attract key hires while also retaining and cultivating leadership talent.
“My role is not just to fill jobs, but to build better organizations and better executive teams—so they can get better results,” said Lamster. “Even though I’m working on back-of-the-house operations, I’m always focused on the customer. I am always asking, ‘How can we improve internal functions to ensure greater efficiencies and better results?’”
Battalia Winston’s retail practice specializes in recruiting executives and other senior-level leaders across the entire retail spectrum: from chain, department, and specialty stores to restaurants and food services companies.
“We’re thrilled to have Fred join our team,” said Dale Winston, CEO and Chairwoman at Battalia Winston. “His in-house experience at major retail brands will be a valuable asset to our retail practice.”
About Battalia Winston
Battalia Winston was founded in 1963, and today is one of the world’s largest woman-owned executive search firms. The firm is consistently ranked as one of the top fifteen executive search firms. Battalia Winston has offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Woodbridge, NJ and Washington, DC. Over the past 50 years Battalia Winston has conducted executive search assignments and established expertise in virtually every major industry and functional area. Clients range from early stage companies to Fortune 100 global enterprises. Each of Battalia Winston’s partners concentrates in an industry group reflecting his or her individual expertise. These practice groups include: life sciences, healthcare services; technology, media and entertainment, industrial products, professional services, financial services, consumer, legal, risk, compliance, family business, diversity and inclusion, retail, and nonprofit.
