Who We Are
Meet Our Leadership
Karen Richards
President and CEO
As the co-owner of Fidelis Companies, Karen has watched the business grow from a small operation started in the kitchen to a multi-million-dollar business. She fell in love with recruiting 20 years ago in Houston, Texas and has never looked back.
After graduating from Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics, Karen discovered technical recruiting was a great way to leverage her inquisitive and analytical mind with her exuberant and enthusiastic personality. In 1996, Advanced Communication Solutions was formed servicing the general IT and engineering verticals. Over the years, additional lines of business were added as the markets and economy changed and evolved. Today the business lines include Fidelis IT, Fidelis BioPharm and Fidelis Engineering. Staying current on the ever-changing laws and trends in the staffing and talent acquisition space is highly important to Karen. She is a Certified Employee Retention Specialist (CERS), Certified Personnel Consultant (CPC) and Certified Temporary-Staffing Specialist (CTS).
Along with successfully running her company, Karen is a mom to three boys. She coaches little league, volunteers with youth and various non-profit organizations. She somehow still finds time to support several professional organizations. She is a member of the College of Science Dean’s External Advisory and Development Council at Texas A&M, the Society for Human Resource Management – DFW Staffing Management Associate, IEEE, and the Women’s Business Counsel. She is also a board member of the National Association of Personnel Services and Metroplex Association of Personnel Consultants.
Alan Butz
Chief Operating Officer
Alan founded the company as a one man shop in 1996 before joining forces with his fellow co-owner, Karen Richards and building the successful business it is today. With over 25 years of recruiting and staffing experience, Alan has hired, trained and developed numerous successful sales executives and recruiters throughout his career. Working in his father’s business growing up, owning and operating his own company was right up his alley. Alan has also been an active member in the National Association of Personnel Services and the Metroplex Associate of Personnel Consultants, and is a Certified Personnel Consultant. He has won numerous “big biller” awards, including Top Producer out of over 250 sales executives and recruiters.
In case you thought operating your own business didn’t leave much time for fun, guess again. In addition to running a multi-million-dollar business, Alan has been very involved with his wife and three boys. When it comes to fun, golf, fitness, and snowboarding are his activities of choice. Alan is an active member of Gleneagles Country Club in Plano and is past President of the Men’s Golf Association, member of the Golf Committee and served as the Chairman of the Board of Governors. Alan feels fortunate that he can share his love of golf, along with its core set of life-enhancing values such as honesty, integrity, respect and perseverance, with the kids from the First Tee of Dallas.
Testimonials
“I truly enjoyed my experience working with Fidelis. They are experienced professionals who understood our needs quickly and managed the candidates effectively. With a broad range of contacts and their ability to network, they were able to find several qualified candidates within a week or two. It was a quick and efficient search without having […]
“Fidelis is, by far, one of the most professional recruiting firms I’ve worked with. Their strength is not only in finding good candidates, but also in putting in the effort to understand the job opening requirements and how the candidates fit. As a result, Fidelis has always recommended candidates that matched what we are looking […]
“As a recruiting expert, your work style was different from others. I felt that at the beginning when we started our contact four years ago. You did not just do the business. Instead, you provided concrete assistance and suggestions like a friend does. For people who are looking for jobs, it’s not hard to imagine […]
“It was a refreshing change for there to be numerous opportunities and choices presented by a recruiter, as opposed to trying to force a match into a single position. In addition, the firm was very understanding with the fact that I had committed to other interviews.”
“Simply put, you know how to work with people, you listen to their concerns, you offer your opinion, and you leave to them to make their own decision. It seems there is nothing that can come in between you and your customer.”
