Bill Bayliss

Bill Bayliss has been actively involved in leadership positions in both the public and private industrial/energy sector; including living and working in North America, Middle East and Norway.

Bill started his career in support to the power generation and petrochemical businesses in a wide range of roles including project management, sales and commercial. He entered the oil and gas business with Brown and Root (B&R) in both London and Aberdeen. He subsequently moved to Norway with Kvaerner Engineering and returned back to UK with Kellogg B&R (KBR) fulfilling various roles including Senior Manager for the Hibernia Development in Canada, Business Manager for the Conoco Southern North Sea operations, maintenance and major project work before being promoted to KBR Global Operations and Maintenance Director.

In 2004, Bill moved to Petrofac to set up an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning support business that grew significantly from an initial seed corn start up investment, and within his role as Vice President, developed the business into five divisional areas with an annual turnover of circa $300 million and a support staff of 1,800. In 2009, he moved to Dubai as Chief Operating Officer of Topaz Engineering and was accountable for four business units with a circa $300 million turnover and over 4000 personnel.

Bill joined Viking Seatech in September 2011 as Group CEO to take the business through financial and organisational restructuring and professionalization. Bill led the sale of this HSBC private equity backed debt leveraged business which was sold in August 2013 for £150million to USA trade buyer Actuant.

At the end of 2014 Bill moved to work as an independent consultant helping a number of Private Equity houses including Bluewater Energy and Energy Ventures in their due diligence activities for the acquisition of various targets covering are Operational, Commercial (including financial elements), HSEQ, the supply chain, organisational structures and general management support.

In mid-2016 Bill joined ICR. As Group CEO, he developed and executed a comprehensive strategy with the “end in mind” that delivered valuable change not only in terms of EBITDA but attractiveness in terms of exit multiples with the addition of new organic product lines and geographies. At its peak under Bills guidance the business nearly doubled in size.

During late 2019, Bill decided to pursue other activities and has recently been appointed as the CEO of Optlian which is part of the Bluewater Energy portfolio.

From a personal perspective, Bill has a proven track record in meeting and exceeding annual financial growth targets without compromise to personnel safety or integrity. He is commercially astute with experience in acquisitions, private equity leveraged businesses, IPOs and divestments. He is passionate about building teams with common goals so that there is clear alignment. Having lived and worked internationally, he has a great understanding of cultural diversity and how work is performed in different regions. He has a Master of Science Degree in Engineering and Risk Management.