Big Board big shakeup shock
The New York Stock Exchange revealed Monday that longtime President Stacey Cunningham is stepping down in a surprise shakeup.
Cunningham, a nine-year veteran at the Big Board who has led it since 2018, will be replaced by Lynn Martin, currently head of NYSE’s fixed-income and data-services business, parent company Intercontinental Exchange said Monday. Martin will assume her new role on Jan. 3.
Meanwhile, ICE’s founder, Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher also disclosed he is relinquishing his role as NYSE chairman to longtime ICE and NYSE board member and former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chief Sharon Bowen.
A company press release didn’t explain the leadership changes or say if Sprecher would be leaving NYSE — it only gave the name of his successor.
However, Sprecher noted that ICE’s past performance “sets a high bar for our management team in the new or expanded roles we’re announcing today.”
The news came hours after a report in The Wall Street Journal highlighted that NYSE had lost out on IPO revenue to Nasdaq for the third year in a row — the length of Cunningham’s tenure.
Nasdaq raised $191 billion from new listings this year, while NYSE raised $109 billion in IPOs, according to data from Dealogic. In addition, over the past three years, the volume of US stock trades it handled dropped to 19 percent from 24 percent in 2019.
Still, Sprecher, in a memo to employees, praised Cunningham for leading the NYSE “through an extraordinary era that saw its technology prove resilient and its trading systems thrive in even the most turbulent times.” He said, “She begins a new chapter with the Exchange better and stronger for her tireless efforts, and with our deepest thanks.”
Cunningham, the 67th exchange president and second female president, will join the NYSE board of directors.