Siebert Williams Shank’s Women Leaders Build on Legacy of First Woman of Wall Street

On the eve of International Women’s Day, we want to celebrate the legacy of Muriel “Mickey” Siebert, whose mission to instill equity in finance laid the foundation for a firm driven by women leaders.

Mickey moved to New York City in 1954, she once said, “with $500, a Studebaker and a dream.” She changed jobs three times after learning she was being paid less than men doing the same work as her.

When Mickey decided to forge her own path and purchase a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, she was turned down by the first nine men she asked to sponsor her application before a 10th agreed. On December 28, 1967, she became the first woman to buy a seat and become a member of the NYSE, making her the First Woman of Wall Street.

Yet Mickey became exasperated by what came next. For the next 10 years, she remained the only woman working alongside 1,365 men on the stock exchange.

Creating opportunities for women on Wall Street turned into Mickey’s ultimate driving force. Over the ensuing years, she devoted significant time and resources to helping other women get their start in business and finance.

Mickey didn’t just view such endeavors as a personal responsibility. She rightly believed that hiring women and minorities gave companies a competitive advantage.

In October 1996 Muriel Siebert joined Suzanne Shank and Napoleon Brandford for dinner in New York. At the end of the meal, they shook hands and agreed to start a new investment banking firm the next day: Siebert Brandford Shank & Co.

Over the following years, the firm grew into a major Wall Street underwriter. Now known as Siebert Williams Shank, it has helped finance trillions of dollars’ worth of municipal and corporate bond deals.

Today, the firm has 27 offices across the country and is 61% women-owned.

Muriel Siebert, who passed away in 2013, once explained her approach to overcoming career barriers: “I put my head down and charge.”

Her former business partner, Suzanne Shank, the firm’s CEO since its founding, adopted the same mentality, as have all the inspiring women following in their wake. While other companies may have recently scaled back programs designed to advance women, Siebert Williams Shank will continue to rely on the ambitious women driving the firm forward.  

The First Woman of Wall Street would have it no other way.