Jessie Bailey

Jessie Bailey did not plan a career in AV. She joined Electrosonic in 2019 in an administrative role without knowing what professional AV was, then moved through project coordination, project management and strategic partnerships before joining CTI in business development.

One of her biggest wins was securing CTI’s first UK stadium project: a PAVA system worth around £1 million (approximately €1.2 million). Bailey met the client at a football-club event hosted by CTI. Although another supplier was already well advanced, she says the relationship and confidence she built with the client helped change the direction of the project.

Her route through the industry has also shaped her views on leadership. As a young female project manager working on construction sites, Bailey says she sometimes had to work harder to earn trust and be taken seriously. Her response was to know her projects inside out, stand her ground and let delivery establish credibility.

Bailey is particularly vocal about preserving deep technical expertise as standardised workplace AV becomes easier to deploy. Stadiums, auditoriums and specialist venues, she argues, still demand engineering knowledge, especially as broadcast increasingly overlaps with AV.

She is also part of the RISE AV 2026 UK Mentoring Programme as a mentee and hopes to return as a mentor, reflecting her belief that support should be passed on as careers develop.