Since the moment I stepped onto the trading floor, the @NYSE has always held a special place in my heart. I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to lead this organization. pic.twitter.com/600GP34hZe
— Stacey Cunningham (@stacey_cunning) May 22, 2018
Stacey Cunningham has just been named the president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), making her the first woman to run the company in its entire 226-year history.
Cunningham started out as a summer intern at the NYSE in 1994. Two years later, she became one of three dozen women who were working as floor clerks amongst 1,300 men.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Cunningham says that when she first joined the staff, the women’s restroom was inside of an old phone booth, while the men’s restrooms were described as “palatial.”
The women’s restrooms were only redone to match the elegance of the men’s at the insistence of Muriel Siebert, who was the first woman on the NYSE staff in 1967, and the first woman to own a seat on the company board, which she only achieved after her application’s sponsorship was turned down by nine men.
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The determined and persistent Siebert was cited as an inspiration for Cunningham’s career.
Now that Cunningham has been appointed as the 67th president of the NYSE, two of the world’s most well-known stock exchange operators are run by women – the other being Adena Friedman, who became chief executive of Nasdaq Inc. in January 2017.
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43-year-old Cunningham has already expressed her excitement in taking over the company.
“Since the moment I stepped onto the trading floor, the NYSE has always held a special place in my heart,” she wrote of her new position on Twitter. “I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to lead this organization.”
Share The Inspirational News With Your Friends – Photo by Stacey Cunningham