Roy, a graduate of Harvard Business School, is a well respected and experienced businessman who remains passionately involved in the activities of the Group and the wider business community.
Starting his print career as a hot-metal compositor, he soon developed leadership potential. In 1977 he led the management buy-out of W&G Baird Ltd from the British Printing Corporation. After forming W&G Baird (Holdings)Ltd, now known as The Bailie Group, Roy embarked on the acquisition trail, purchasing MSO Ltd in 1984, Biddles Ltd in 1989, Thanet Press Ltd and Blackstaff Press Ltd in 1995, Corporate Document Services Ltd in 2000 and Newspress Ltd in 2006. On the way a number of smaller acquisitions were also made and absorbed into existing Group companies. Roy is Chairman and majority shareholder of The Bailie Group.
Roy is currently a Senate Member of Queen’s University Belfast and Chairman of Opera Northern Ireland.

Roy’s previous directorships include:

• U.T.V. (Ulster Television)
• MSO Cleland Ltd.
• BPIF

Past non-executive posts include:

• Bank of England (Court of Directors)
• Northern Ireland Tourist Board – Chairman
• British Printing Industries Federation – President
• Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland
• CBI (Northern Ireland) – Chairman
• Bank of Ireland Court of Directors
• Bank of Ireland (N.I. Advisory Board)
• Tacade (The Advisory Council on Alcohol & Drug Education)

The former chief executive of the Belfast-based Wireless Group, formerly UTV Media, retired from his role in May 2016 and joined The Bailie Group as non-executive director in 2018.

Frank brings to Bailie Group a wealth of experience, having led the strategic and operational transformation of a number of high-technology businesses, including LAND ROVER, BMW, AIRBUS, BAE SYSTEMS and ROLLS-ROYCE. He played a leading role in the launch of the BMW Mini, Airbus A380, Eurofighter Typhoon, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Rolls-Royce engines for the Boeing 787 & Airbus A350.

He now works as a consultant and non-executive director and has served more than 300 client leadership teams, across a wide range of industries all over the world. Frank was called upon to serve the UK Cabinet Office in 2020, leading the work to accelerate the scale up of Covid-19 rapid test devices. Most frequently, he helps the owners of medium size, high-technology businesses to accelerate their business growth and resilience plans.

Frank’s passion is coaching senior executive teams, to help them plan and implement ambitious business transformation strategies.

Fergus Bailie has a strong commercial background, which started with a law degree at Durham University, continued with a Chartered Accountancy Qualification achieved during his time with PWC, and with qualifications in Business Management and Strategy from Columbia University and Strategic Agility from Harvard Business School.

Following 5 years at PwC in audit and mergers & acquisitions, Fergus joined CDS in 2007. After a period as a Digital Consultant involved in various technology projects Fergus was appointed to the Board as Commercial Director responsible for finance, commercial contracts, HR, as well as Group responsibility for Newspress’ performance and strategic direction.

Fergus was appointed CDS MD in January 2010 and during his time, the company has experienced profitable growth in all areas of the business and diversified the service offering to existing customers as well as moving into new sectors such as Financial Services and Transport.

Having achieved growth in each year as CDS MD, Fergus took responsibility for all Group activities as Bailie Group CEO in 2017, having restructured the Group to put independent MDs and Operating Boards in place.

Fergus has a passion for entrepreneurial activities and as well as incubating several new services through Bailie Group, Fergus dedicates time to business start-ups as part of his voluntary role as Business Mentor for The Prince’s Trust, helping dozens of young people start their own business since 2010. Fergus is also the Chair of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) for Yorkshire & the Humber, providing leadership for the region's businesses and lobbying Central and Regional Government.

When not at Bailie Group, Fergus enjoys spending time with his wife Kate and 2 daughters Nora and Oona, is a huge Ulster and Ireland rugby fan, suffers through Everton matches and enjoys the occasional round of golf and bike ride!

Kieran brings over 20 years of experience in the finance industry at several high growth firms, including as Managing Director of a well-known lighting specialist in the retail space, Lights4Fun.

As an ICAEW Fellow Chartered Accountant, Kieran has played central roles within finance including at firms such as PwC, Microgard, and Northern Foods, as well as charitable work with Abriendo Mentes in Costa Rica.

With his first appointment in a finance director role at just 29 years of age, his proven track record of bringing firms to successful sale evidences his breadth of experience, promising profitable growth for Bailie Group.