FIS Names Stephanie L. Ferris President and CEO

Fazzaco learned that FIS (NYSE:FIS), a global leader in financial services technology, yesterday announced the appointment of Stephanie L. Ferris as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In addition to her current position as president, Ferris will succeed Gary A. Norcross, who has been the company's CEO for the past eight years and Chairman since 2018. On January 1, 2023, Ferris will take over as President and CEO, and Norcross will become Executive Chairman of the Board. Additionally, Ferris joined the FIS Board of Directors.

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As president of FIS, Ferris has been in charge of directing and carrying out the organization's global business strategy, including M&A, as well as its global business operations, which provide services to financial institutions, businesses, and corporations of all sizes, and locations. Ferris, a 28-year veteran of the sector with expertise in payments, technology platform businesses, and driving digital transformation, has led the integration of Worldpay into FIS.

Gary Norcross, FIS Chairman and CEO, commented: "Continually growing and developing FIS leadership talent, including succession planning, has remained a key focus of my agenda with our Board, since joining FIS, Stephanie has continually demonstrated tremendous leadership and bold actions in achievement of our goals. The Board and I are extremely confident in her ability to lead FIS in its next chapter of growth and transformation."

According to FIS, Norcross, current CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors, will hold a new full-time position as Executive Chairman of the Board. "Under Norcross' leadership, FIS has delivered consistent and profitable financial performance growing from a $6 billion business to the $14 billion global business it is today. During his tenure as CEO, FIS became the first in the industry to leverage cloud technologies at scale, launch an enterprise-wide modernization initiative leveraging component-based API architectures and is driving the future of real-time and digital experiences, " the company stated in the announcement.

"I am honored to have led such a talented and dedicated team of colleagues and work with such an impressive and high-quality group of clients. Over the years, we've grown into the largest financial technology provider in the world by successfully helping our clients anticipate, navigate and harness wave after wave of technological change to take advantage of growth opportunities in their markets, advancing the way the world pays, banks and invests. I couldn't be more pleased with Stephanie moving into this position," said Norcross. "Under her leadership, I am confident that FIS will remain focused on delivering meaningful experiences to our colleagues, clients and communities and strong value to our shareholders."

"I am incredibly honored to assume the CEO role from Gary and sincerely appreciate his partnership and mentorship. Few companies can match FIS' rich, stellar history, industry-best breadth and scale, and focus on innovation. We are uniquely positioned to chart the course for fintech innovation, and thanks to the confidence placed in me by Gary and FIS' Board of Directors, I'm incredibly excited to lead the company into its future," Ferris said.

FIS Lead Independent Director, Jeffery Goldstein, commented, "Under Gary's leadership and in partnership with the FIS Board, we have worked closely together for several years to develop and implement a thoughtful and strong CEO transition plan. Gary has been a tremendous leader for FIS, steering the company to many industry milestones and a position of strong market leadership. FIS is well positioned to continue leading the trajectory of fintech innovation under Stephanie's leadership, and the Board is looking forward to a continued strong partnership with Gary and Stephanie in their new roles."

As Fazzaco reported previously, FIS launched new SaaS solution Worldpay for Platforms and central infrastructure payment solution RealNet Central​ in the past two months.