Stacey Cunningham is the first woman to lead the NYSE as its 67th President in 226 years

Having originally started as a summer intern, Stacey Cunningham is now going to be the 67th President of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In the 226 years of its existence, the NYSE has never had a woman President and 43-year-old Stacey will be the first.

Stacey, who is also the Chief Operating Officer, succeeds Thomas Farley while John Tuttle will be promoted to Chief Operating Officer of the NYSE Group, effective May 25. The news was shared by the Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the NYSE, in a statement.

“More than a half-century after Muriel Siebert became the first woman to own a seat on the NYSE, Stacey represents a new generation of leadership for the NYSE Group. I’m confident that Stacey, who started as a summer intern on the NYSE floor in 1994, will continue to propel this vital institution forward. Stacey and our team are steadfastly committed to ensuring that the U.S. remains the centre of world’s capital markets,” said Jeff Sprecher, Chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange and Chairman of NYSE Group and the New York Stock Exchange. 

Here’s what Stacey had to say about her appointment on Twitter:

Nasdaq has a year-and-a-half jump over NYSE with Adena Friedman as its first woman CEO. Stacey first worked at NYSE as a summer intern in 1994 while she was still in college. She has a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University.

In 1996, she joined the NYSE, joining a handful of women who then worked there when it was mostly male-dominated and had thousands of men on the floor. In 2005, Stacey took a break and went to culinary school, and came back and joined NYSE rival Nasdaq, working there from 2007 to 2012. At the end of 2012, she returned to the NYSE. This was before the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) had announced that they would acquire the stock exchange.

A year later, Stacey was heading the sales and relationship management teams and in the next three years, she had become the COO. “As our COO, Stacey Cunningham successfully managed our equities, equities derivatives, and ETF businesses, distinguishing herself as a customer-focused leader who is respected across our industry,” said Jeff about Stacey.

After 226 years, an intern is becoming the President of NYSE. It tells us that women have a long road ahead but we will get there gradually. As Thomas Farley, the outgoing President, tweeted, “The NYSE is in great hands.”