Stephanie Ferris

Company: FISTitle: President & CEOIndustry: Financials and insuranceNotable in 2024: Ferris expanded FIS offerings in several key areas, including a new climate risk financial modeler, digital small business lending, and seamless data-sharing between consumers and third party financial apps.

As the CEO of Fidelity National Information Services, Stephanie Ferris is one of the most powerful woman in finance, and among the still relatively small group of women to lead a Fortune 500 company.

FIS is a fintech giant powering the infrastructure behind banks, other financial services companies, and merchants across the globe. As the movement of money occurs with increasing frequency digitally, and across many more types of companies, FIS is at the forefront of the bank-as-a-service software revolution.

Bain Capital projects that embedded finance, another term used for this trend across more sectors of the economy and e-commerce, will account for 10% of all transactions by 2026, reaching a total value of $7 trillion and generating over $50 billion in revenue.

"FIS is unlocking a new era of fintech, focused on bringing the world's money into harmony by enhancing the experience of how money is stored, moved, and put to work," Ferris shared herself in a LinkedIn post.

Gen AI is a newer focus as well, she said in a recent interview with Fortune, with Ferris spearheading a company-wide agenda to integrate gen AI, emphasizing both a top-down strategy and a bottom-up approach to revolutionize workflows. "It allows us to change the way we work and think about everything," she said.

Ferris worked her way up steadily in the financial industry, beginning her career in 1995 as an entry level accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She was the CFO for the payments processing division of Fifth Third Bancorp, which became Vantiv (which became Worldpay), with increasing steps into broader fintech. FIS acquired Worldpay in 2019. As she joined the fintech giant, her ascent was swift, first with Ferris leading the integration as the chief operating officer and chief administrative officer, and by December 2022, when she became CEO and president, the first woman to lead the company in its 50-plus year history.

Ferris is responsible for 56,000 employees across 58 countries, and trillions of dollars in transactions.

Despite her growing influence, Ferris has never sought the spotlight based on gender. "I have always shied away from being the 'female' anything, because I want to be the CFO. I want to be the CEO. ... That being said, I'm super-proud of where women are," she told American Banker.