Last week Fry was announced as Williams' new CTO, having departed an Alpine team in turmoil after its upper management sacked team boss Otmar Szafnauer and long-time sporting director Alan Permane.
The deal to sign Fry, who is set to take up his position before the end of the year, predates Alpine's flurry of management changes by several months.
According to Vowles, the coup to convince the experienced engineer to join Williams shows that his squad is serious about wanting to implement significant changes at Grove on its long journey back to the front.
When asked by Autosport if Fry's marquee signing can be the catalyst to more high-profile personnel making the jump, Vowles replied: "In part. But I hope that for a start, when people saw that I left the comfort of Mercedes to go to Williams and now people have seen Pat, at a time where Alpine was in a strong place, people will now understand that Williams wants a culture of change.
"So, it's not specifically that. It's more that once you see two very senior people that have been in the sport for 20 plus years and winning races and we want to come here, others will now see why it's worth that journey."
He added: "That's why I wanted it to be clear this wasn't in the last few weeks. This was a long time ago wanting to join Williams."
Vowles revealed his first talks with Fry date back to January, as he had quickly identified the former Benetton, McLaren and Ferrari stalwart as a key figure in implementing a new technical structure at the team, while freeing up Vowles' time for more strategical thinking.
"The first times I spoke to Pat was actually back in January before I'd officially started with Williams," he explained. "Just to make it clear, he was the one I'd highlighted that I really wanted to be within Williams.
Source: Autosport