Stacey Cunningham

Cunningham grew up in New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the eastern United States on the Atlantic Ocean, bordered by New York State, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, with the Hudson River forming its northeastern boundary and the Delaware River its western boundary; its capital is Trenton and its largest city is Newark. One of the original 13 colonies, it became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on December 18, 1787, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 9,288,994.Open the full entry, fourth of six children.⁠[1]

In high school, she worked after school and on weekends at a hometown sporting-goods store. After failing to find a waitressing job in college, she tried a trading-floor internship at her father’s suggestion; he worked in finance. She initially regarded it simply as a summer job.⁠[2]

She initially studied civil engineering at Lehigh UniversityLehigh UniversityLehigh University is a university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, founded in 1865 with a gift from Asa Packer.Open the full entry and switched to industrial engineering after interning at a trading firm on the NYSE floor.⁠[3]

She graduated from Lehigh in 1996 with a B.S. in industrial engineering.⁠[4]

Cunningham was a summer intern on the NYSE trading floor in 1994 and became a floor clerk after graduating in 1996.⁠[5]

She subsequently became a market maker. She recalled that the floor’s pace and energy drew her to the industry; about a decade later, dissatisfaction with the integration of people and technology led her to explore other opportunities.⁠[6]

In a 2021 interview with her university, she recalled noticing only several weeks into her first year that she was the sole woman in her class. She chose engineering because she liked mathematics and science, and later viewed being among the few women on the floor as an opportunity to demonstrate her willingness to learn.⁠[7]

The Institute of Culinary Education lists her as a 2006 management alumna and says she studied restaurant and culinary management in 2005 and worked in the kitchen at Ouest.⁠[8]

In a 2019 Nareit interview, Cunningham said she had never earned a living as a chef, while culinary school taught her parallels between kitchens and trading floors in quick decisions, teamwork and direct communication.⁠[6]

In Master Move, she said culinary school was a break pursued for enjoyment, rather than a plan to become a professional chef, and that she had never worked in a restaurant. She enjoys braising, smoking and barbecue.⁠[2]

At Nasdaq she held roles directing capital markets and leading sales for U.S.United StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry transaction services. She returned to NYSE in 2012, which she recalled was just ten days before ICEICEICE (Intercontinental Exchange) is a US financial-market infrastructure company founded in 2000. It operates exchanges and clearing services, fixed-income and data businesses, and mortgage technology. Its businesses include the New York Stock Exchange; founder Jeffrey Sprecher is chair and CEO.Open the full entry announced its acquisition.⁠[6]

At NYSE she served as head of sales and relationship management and president of NYSE Governance Services. As chief operating officer, she led strategy for equities, equity derivatives and ETFs and spearheaded the rollout of the NYSE Pillar trading platform.⁠[4]

CloudflareCloudflareCloudflare (Cloudflare, Inc.) is a network infrastructure and security company headquartered in San Francisco that describes itself as a connectivity cloud company. Founded in 2009 by Matthew Prince, Michelle Zatlyn and Lee Holloway, it uses its global network to provide content delivery, security and developer platform services for websites and applications, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2019 under the symbol NET.Open the full entry’s regulatory filing dates her NYSE chief operating officer tenure from June 2015 to May 2018.⁠[9]

On May 22, 2018, ICE announced that she would succeed Thomas Farley as president of NYSE Group, effective May 25, becoming the NYSE’s 67th president.⁠[5]

She was the first woman to lead the exchange group. During her tenure, she led NYSE through the COVID-19 pandemic and helped advance direct listings as a route to public markets.⁠[10]

On December 6, 2021, ICE announced that Lynn Martin would succeed her and Cunningham would join the NYSE board. ICE credited her work on technology modernization, direct listings and ESG. Her presidency ended in January 2022.⁠[11][9]

On June 15, 2022, Uniswap Labs announced Cunningham’s appointment as an adviser.⁠[12]

She became an operating partner at Advent International in October 2022. On March 27, 2025, she joined Cloudflare’s board and its nominating and corporate governance committee; the company determined that she met the applicable independence standards.⁠[9]

A 2021 Lehigh profile also listed her on the boards of Catalyst and the Partnership for New York City and on ICE’s global executive committee. BullishBullishBullish (NYSE: BLSH) is an institutionally focused global digital asset platform whose formation was announced by Block.one on May 11, 2021; its main businesses are Bullish Exchange (a digital asset spot and derivatives exchange) and CoinDesk’s indices, data, media and events businesses. It listed on the NYSE in August 2025 and obtained a New York State Department of Financial Services BitLicense in September; in May 2026 it announced a $4.2 billion acquisition of Equiniti (pending completion), and in August it launched trading of tokenized BLSH shares on its exchange regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission. The company is a foreign private issuer with its principal executive offices in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.Open the full entry’s November 2026 announcement listed current board roles at Cloudflare, NYSE and Georgetown University’s Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy.⁠[7][13]

She returned to Lehigh for the 2019 lecture “Engineering the 21st Century Stock Exchange” and participated in Soaring Together, marking fifty years of women at the university. Lehigh lists her on ForbesForbesForbes is an American business media brand that began with Forbes magazine, founded by B.C. Forbes in 1917. It is known for rankings such as the Forbes 400, the World’s Billionaires list and 30 Under 30, and operates Forbes.com, ForbesLive events and licensed editions in 81 countries. Since 2014 a majority stake has been held by the Hong Kong investment group Integrated Whale Media; a 2021 plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a special purpose acquisition company was terminated in 2022. It is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.Open the full entry’ Most Powerful Women lists in 2018 and 2019, Barron’s Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance in 2020 and 2021, and Crain’s Most Powerful Women in New York in 2019 and 2021.⁠[10]

On May 17, 2026, she addressed Lehigh’s 158th undergraduate commencement, encouraging curiosity and finding opportunity in uncertainty. She acknowledged the influence of earlier pioneers, particularly Muriel Siebert.⁠[3]

On November 9, 2026, Bullish appointed Cunningham president, working alongside CEO Tom Farley. The company linked the appointment to its strategy of combining traditional capital-markets infrastructure with blockchain technology. She said she aimed to improve services for issuers and shareholders and make market infrastructure more efficient, connected and accessible.⁠[13]

TIMETIMETIME is an American newsmagazine and media brand founded by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden, which published its first issue on March 3, 1923; it is headquartered in New York and known for its Person of the Year selection and the TIME100 list. Since 2018 it has been personally owned by Marc and Lynne Benioff; its current Chief Executive Officer is Jessica Sibley, and its Editor-in-Chief is Sam Jacobs.Open the full entry’s 2018 profile reported that she was then single and had no children, which she described as how life unfolded rather than a plan. After her appointment, her father gave her his treasured LeRoy Neiman painting of the trading floor.⁠[14]