Chris Friedl

As a two-time CW Program Game Changer, Chris Friedl is no stranger to being a forward thinker in the contingent workforce industry. After spending 20 years in IT contracting and technical risk management, he realized his natural affinity for working with clients. Today, Friedl is flourishing in his career in labor strategy and customer-centric category management at financial technology firm FIS.

The organization serves more than 20,000 clients in over 130 countries worldwide. “I love that this role touches every part of the business while helping people solve complex problems,” Friedl says. And his passion and leadership have brought solid results to fruition for FIS: Friedl and his team have delivered $225 million in bottom-line savings, which is about a 25% reduction in third-party spend.

Last year, Friedl also worked to expand FIS’ labor program, expanding its VMS into EMEA and India, with more global growth underway for the future. This has come with its own set of challenges, but Friedl is excited to work through complex labor laws and taxes associated with this scalability.

The future looks bright for Friedl, especially in the technology space. “We are excited about introducing additional technologies such as an AI tool to streamline onboarding and ensure we’re getting better candidate assessments,” he explains. “We are very focused on transparency and automation in the coming year.”