He was also gaining great experience by working closely with the executive management of a company. He gained Diageo and UDV executive support for a fully integrated IS strategy, and driving an internal e-business, ERP and support systems agenda. He also initiated and delivered in-market CRM programs to drive sales effectiveness with more than 100 per cent return in investment in the first year of operation.
It was time for a head hunter to call again, and Bagg moved to pharmaceutical company Amersham as CIO and a member of the operating committee responsible for IT and business change in 2001. He was hired, he says, to turn around a massively failing IT operation of 500 staff and a yearly budget of £90 million.
"IT had the 'blue book', which contained about 100 different projects," says Bagg. "It was classic mismanagement. I cut the number of projects to 13 -- the ones that really mattered, and we delivered them. This gave us massive credibility in the company and allowed us to design and integrate the IT strategy as an integral part of the overall business strategy.
Everything was going well, including the global ERP, and CRM, when GE Healthcare came along and made a big offer for Amersham and yet another M&A project was on. "The GE culture was very different, but there was great business synergy," says Bagg. He didn't really like the culture of GE Healthcare, but handled the lead IT integration role for Amersham in planning the integration.
After a sabbatical when he worked in the not-for-profit sector, for World Vision UK, Crusaders, and Maybridge Community Church, he went back into commercial life with shipping giants P&O as CIO. "I joined a changing executive team of an IT led business, and six months later we were bought out by rivals AP Moller-Maersk, and I had to say yes to another integration project."
The difference this time was that Bagg ended up mentoring other colleagues on the executive board because he had become something of an expert on M&As. "They were in shock over it, but it worked really well in the end," says Bagg.
"I got on with the CEO and was popular with the executives, but very unpopular with the functions. There were the usual fights over whose system would be used after the merger -- it was seen as being a wimp to give ground.
"But I knew we had to offer the greatest value by department. I took quite a bit of crap from the team, until my approach produced co-operation, and then AP embraced the golden nuggets of the systems, and ended up retaining the function. This was really pleasing for me, knowing that I was right, and had the wisdom to win the longer game."
Now Bagg is at Papworth Trust he has been concentrating on the future putting together a mission statement, a vision and corporate strategy with values and a business plan, based on doubling in size and fund raising. There has also been a total website review. "It has been a very fast moving year," he says.
The trust works with those with disabilities to give them equality, choice and independence through several different areas. It aids with the design, building and management of wheelchair accessibility. It helps people get and keep jobs, it offers simple advice to employers, and works through government Job Centres. It also has day centers where people can come to learn and develop their skills through day to day and vocational rehabilitation to, as Bagg puts it, help them to get their lives back together.
"Having a job can be a massive change to lives," he says. "It means people with disabilities can do something. At the beginning they can quite often be suicidal."
Future plans for the Papworth Trust include also focusing on people over 18. "In the educational systems things are taken care of to an extent, but after that they fall out of the system. We want to help them live on their own at 20, like anyone else," says Bagg.
In the past the Papworth Trust has delivered care homes, now it wants to concentrate on integrated care with house community-based teams. "Being CEO has not been as difficult as I had thought. I had the communications background and know how to do balance sheets and business plans," Bagg comments.
Everyone has transferable skills, but even if projects are successful and delivered on time if you don't get excited by customer outcomes you are not going to be a person who wants to become a CEO, according to Bagg. "Performing successful operations and IT functions isn't good enough. You have to have a passion for business, taking the initiative and developing change," he believes.
"Mine is not a perfect career path, but things played out well. But you aren't an incomplete CIO if you don't want to be a CEO -- that is just rubbish."
As a CEO, Bagg is headed for growth, and is learning constantly. There seems no doubt that Bagg's latest job is going to be just as successful as those in his past.
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