Women’s History Month: Stacey Cunningham

Editor’s Note: The David Eccles School of Business is celebrating Women’s History Month by sharing the successes of women leaders who have made big impacts in the business world.

In 2018, Stacey Cunningham made history as the first woman to hold full leadership of the New York Stock Exchange Group when she entered into her role as president. Before taking on the position, she served as the NYSE’s COO, overseeing the exchange’s equities, equities derivative, and exchange-traded products. As COVID-19 swept through New York City, Cunningham moved swiftly on shutting down in-person training in March, eventually opening it when safe at reduced capacity. Cunningham began her career on the NYSE trading floor serving as a clerk.

However, that wasn’t the first time the Lehigh University alumna first visited the trading floor. In the summer after her sophomore year, she became a summer intern for the stock exchange in 1994 and has long expressed her fondness for the NYSE: “Since the moment I stepped onto the trading floor, the NYSE has always held a special place in my heart,” she said. Cunningham has given credit to Muriel Siebert, the first woman to occupy a seat on the NYSE in 1967, as a strong inspiration for her career.