The core banking technology company FIS has tapped Stephanie Ferris to take over as CEO starting next year, as the firm's current chief executive transitions to be executive chairman of the board, the company announced Tuesday.
Ferris, who currently serves as president, will take the helm of the Jacksonville, Florida-based company Jan. 1 from Gary Norcross, who has been chief executive the past eight years and as chairman since 2018. Ferris was also appointed to the FIS board.
"Continually growing and developing FIS leadership talent, including succession planning, has remained a key focus of my agenda with our board," Norcross said in a prepared statement. "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."
Ferris has been steering business strategy, including mergers and acquisitions and global business operations, as president at FIS, which provides financial technology to financial institutions, merchants and other corporate entities. The publicly traded company facilitates commerce, capital market transactions and other payments and banking solutions. FIS serves more than 14,000 clients across more than 100 countries.
FIS said in a press release Tuesday that it expects third- quarter revenues to be at the midpoint of its guidance range and adjusted earnings per share to be at the low end of the range. The company will release the results in early November.
Ferris has nearly 30 years of experience in payments and finance, and has been in fintech since 2009. She climbed the ranks at Vantiv, which was later acquired by Worldpay and then was bought by FIS for $43 billion in 2019. Ferris also led the integration of Worldpay into FIS, which
According to a Jefferies analyst note, the executive change will likely be a relief in light of investor frustration about "disappointing execution" over the past two years, but Ferris's ties to Worldpay may cause some apprehension.
"The experience in merchant is a plus (in contrast with Mr. Norcross and former CFO James Woodall, both of whom did not have experience in merchant acquiring prior to the WP merger), but given the slower relative merchant growth and apparent share losses over the past two-plus years, the strategic positioning of legacy Worldpay (which Ms. Ferris is associated with by investors) has been called into question," the analyst note said.
At Worldpay (then Vantiv), Ferris
The release said Norcross has delivered consistent and profitable financial performance as CEO. Under his leadership, the company has grown from a $6 billion business to $14 billion. The firm developed cloud technology and launched an enterprisewide modernization initiative using component-based API architecture.
Jeffrey Goldstein, lead independent director at FIS, said in a prepared statement that the board thought Norcross had been a "tremendous leader" and helped develop a succession plan. Goldstein added that FIS is well positioned to continue fintech innovation under Ferris's leadership.
"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," Norcross said in the statement. "I couldn't be more pleased with [Ferris] moving into this position."
