Leadership Team - Baby Blue IT & Consulting

Lee Bailey - Founder & Managing Director

Lee Bailey brings over 30 years of leadership and industry expertise, with credentials from Harvard Business School's CME Executive Education program and certifications in negotiations, business strategy, and leadership. In 2023, Lee earned Chartered Director accreditation from the Institute of Directors after five years of training, further solidifying his extensive experience across TPM Maintenance, IT Managed Services (MSPs), and Cloud Computing.

Lee served as a Board Director for many years, successfully leading sales, marketing, and technical engineering & maintenance teams. He played a pivotal role in transforming IBM-focused operations into multi-vendor services. Additionally, his experience in mergers and acquisitions includes his involvement in a 9-figure enterprise value (EV) Management Buyout (MBO) in 2016, followed by an even larger private equity-backed business sale in 2021.

Chris Smith - Director of Consulting & Recruitment

Chris Smith is a highly experienced sales leader with 30 years of expertise in selling and managing teams focused on IBM Managed Services and IBM Maintenance Solutions. He has successfully led teams of over 40 sales professionals and marketers, driving cross-selling initiatives to IBM customers and delivering impressive business growth.

Chris’s in-depth knowledge of IBM solutions, including his development of the UK’s first IBM Power Cloud solution, combined with his leadership skills, has consistently enabled him to achieve strong results. His dedication to building lasting customer relationships and empowering sales teams is rooted in a commitment to delivering exceptional service.

In addition to his industry experience, Chris is trained by the Institute of Directors in company direction, covering key areas such as governance, strategy, finance, and marketing—further enhancing his ability to lead businesses with strategic insight and operational excellence.

Will Nicholls - Director of Maintenance Solutions

With over 30 years of experience in the IBM and third-party maintenance (TPM) sector, Will Nicholls is a trusted expert in supporting IBM Power Systems, zSeries Mainframes, and Storwize environments.

He specialises in designing hybrid maintenance solutions that combine vendor support with TPM to deliver the best outcome for the customer. For modern systems, Will ensures continued access to critical firmware, machine code, security patches, and software updates across IBM AIX, IBM i, and z/OS without the risks often tied to TPM-only support.

When legacy kit or technical debt is in play, Will blends TPM cover to extend the life of existing infrastructure and reduce costs. While most providers push either vendor or TPM support, Will’s value lies in his ability to deliver a balanced, customer-first solution based on what’s right for the business, not the supplier.

At Baby Blue, Will offers a rare mix of deep technical insight, commercial understanding, and honest advice.

Davide Crusco - Director of Services Team

Davide Crusco brings 43 years of extensive experience in both operational and commercial IT, having worked with renowned organisations such as Deutsche Bank, Cap Gemini, and Blue Chip.

At Deutsche Bank, Davide was responsible for managing the bank’s settlement applications and led initiatives in outsourcing and rightsizing, streamlining both applications and operational resources across London, Frankfurt, and India.

During his time at Blue Chip, Davide headed the Technical Operations team, overseeing the delivery of end-to-end managed services for customers utilising a mix of Blue Chip’s cloud-based IBM Power Cloud, Windows, and Linux server applications. His responsibilities included leading the 24x7 operations team, technical team leaders, and the service delivery team. He later transitioned into a commercial role, where he bridged the gap between operational delivery and sales, ensuring seamless communication between the two. In this role, Davide ensured that the solutions sold were fully aligned with the technical team's capabilities, while also preparing teams to anticipate and adapt to evolving customer requirements.

This expertise led him to lead the Solution Architects team, where he developed a new Managed Services pricing model, standardised proposal processes, drove service quality through industrialisation, and shaped contract terms and conditions.

Today, Davide has reunited with his former colleagues from Blue Chip at Baby Blue, where he shares his vast expertise on a fractional basis, helping clients navigate complex IT challenges and optimise their managed services operations.

Eddy Conway - IBM Technical Advisory

Eddy Conway brings over 40 years of technical expertise in IBM Power and Storage technologies. He spent more than two decades at IBM, where he played a pivotal role in maintaining critical systems for major organisations such as Lloyds, Santander, Argos, and Scania.

After IBM, Eddy joined Blue Chip, Europe’s largest IBM Power systems third-party maintenance provider, where he served as a Level 3 Technical Support Engineer. His leadership later expanded as Board Director of the Maintenance & Datacenter business, overseeing the uptime of more IBM Power systems than any other company globally.

Today, Eddy remains deeply committed to IBM Power systems and storage engineering, emphasising the importance of not only resolving technical issues but also fostering strong customer relationships by going above and beyond in service delivery.