TIME

TIME with ... Stacey Cunningham

Stacey Cunningham, head of the New York Stock Exchange, talks history as she changes it

GROWING UP, STACEY CUNNINGHAM THOUGHT her father was a sock trader. He was in fact a stock trader and hung a LeRoy Neiman painting of the New York Stock Exchange floor in his den. Now Cunningham is president of the exchange—the first woman to run the organization since its founding in 1792.

Eight weeks into the top job, Cunningham works the iconic floor of the exchange—which, even today, has only one full-time female trader—as the showcase for American capitalism it has remained, even in the digital age. It’s the day of an initial public offering, and the boss plants herself at the front of a sea of traders watching screens. Men in blue jackets pace well-worn floorboards, frowning and calling out bids as the designated market maker zeroes in

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