Muriel Siebert was the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the first to head one of its member firms. She is known as the First Woman of Finance who also tore down barriers for women and minorities in her industry.
-
1928
Born (USA)
-
1967
Founded financial brokerage firm Muriel Siebert & Co.
-
1975
Pioneered discount brokerage
-
2009
Inducted into the Global Business Hall of Fame
Born to a Jewish family in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, in 1928, Muriel Siebert founded her financial brokerage firm Muriel Siebert & Co., Inc. in 1967. Though she had attended Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, she never graduated, choosing to leave school due to her father’s illness. Muriel then pursued a career on Wall Street, working for several brokerages before launching her own firm.
Muriel faced discrimination in the male-dominated finance world when she applied for a seat on the NYSE. The NYSE elected to hold her to a new standard, requiring her to secure funding from banks for US$300,000 to secure the near-record seat price of US$445,000. However, banks declared they would not lend the money to her until she had secured the seat. After a months-long struggle, Muriel was finally granted a seat on the NYSE on December 28, 1967. Not only was she a groundbreaker with regard to the advancement of women, she was a pioneer in the discount brokerage field, turning her firm into a discount brokerage on the first day it was legal for firms to negotiate commissions in 1975. In 1977, she placed her firm in a blind trust in order to serve as Superintendent of Banks for New York state. Under her leadership, not one banking institution failed.
Muriel’s firm, Muriel Siebert & Co., Inc., celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2017 and was honored by the NYSE on December 22, 2007. Muriel was inducted into the Global Business Hall of Fame in 2009.
“American business will find that women executives can be a strong competitive weapon against Japan and Germany and other countries that still limit their executive talent pool to the male 50 percent of their population._______
Men at the top of industry and government should be more willing to risk sharing leadership with women and minority members who are not merely clones of their white male buddies. In these fast-changing times we need the different viewpoints and experiences, we need the enlarged talent bank. The real risk lies in continuing to do things the way they’ve always been done.
”
Throughout her career, Muriel was involved in philanthropic endeavors, serving on board of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, National Shingles Foundation, the Business Council of New York State, and many others. She was also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the New York Women’s Agenda, the New York Women’s Forum, and more. In 1990, Muriel created the Siebert Entrepreneurial Philanthropic Plan, which shared half of her firm’s profits from new securities underwriting with charities of the issuers’ choice. Through the Muriel F. Siebert Foundation, she developed the “Siebert Personal Finance Program,” which taught financial literacy to middle and high school students. She also worked to promote financial literacy among American citizens of all ages.
A Global Force for Good
In addition to making room for women in the financial industry, Muriel was an outspoken advocate for minorities in general, believing that promoting women and minorities to high-level positions put American businesses and firms in advantageous positions over countries where both were still limited.