Stacey Cunningham: President of the NYSE Group

Career Origins and Trading Floor Experience

• Susie Scherr began her career in 1994 as an intern at the NYSE after being unable to secure a waitressing job, utilizing her father's connections as an institutional block trader.
• Despite the floor being male-dominated, Scherr reports that her gender served as an advantage for gaining recognition and mentorship, though she faced informal labeling as "the girl."
• Scherr established clear professional boundaries on the floor, asserting that mutual respect was the primary requirement for her presence and success in the environment.

Culinary Interlude and Market Evolution

• In 2005, Scherr enrolled in culinary school to acquire culinary skills, though she never intended to work as a professional chef.
• She observed that kitchen environments shared specific traits with trading floors, including direct communication styles, rapid pacing, and a shared tolerance for "twisted" humor.
• Scherr returned to Wall Street in 2007 at NASDAQ, citing the company's superior technology integration compared to the NYSE's fragmented systems at the time.
• Her move to NASDAQ coincided with the 2007 SEC regulations that shifted trading from exchange-specific locations to wherever the best price existed, necessitating advanced technology for execution.

NYSE Acquisition and Leadership Role

• Scherr rejoined the NYSE in 2012 but had no prior knowledge of the impending acquisition by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which was announced just 10 days after her start.
• The acquisition by the 12-year-old firm ICE provided a "forcing function" to reinvest the 220-year-old institution, allowing for the removal of legacy practices and "sacred cows" without bureaucratic resistance.
• In 2020, Scherr became the first woman president of the NYSE, a role where she realized the significant impact of her visibility as a female leader for women and the public.
• She shifted her internal mindset from being a private individual to actively accepting her public profile to redraw boundaries for others in senior leadership roles.

Market Trends and Strategic Priorities

• Scherr identifies a critical long-term trend where the number of public companies has decreased by half over the past 20–25 years as firms delay IPOs until reaching maturity.
• Delaying IPOs means investors miss opportunities during a company's highest growth phase, resulting in public markets missing out on dynamic early-stage value.
• Modernized listing standards at the NYSE have led to a shift where 75% of technology proceeds raised over the past five years have occurred on the NYSE.
• In the first six months of 2019, the NYSE added $100 billion in new technology market cap, a figure that matched the entire value of the 2014 Alibaba IPO (the year's first half).
• Current tech IPOs involve larger, more disciplined companies compared to the early 2000s, though smaller firms like PagerDuty show higher performance percentages (up 100%) than larger entities.

Future Mechanisms and Direct Listings

• Scherr suggests reducing regulatory burdens and creating "on-ramps" for reporting cycles to allow smaller companies to go public earlier in their life cycles.
• She views the direct listing model (pioneered by Spotify and Slack) as a viable alternative for companies prioritizing liquidity and brand visibility over immediate capital raising.
• Slack's direct listing demonstrated low volatility (opening at 38.50 and closing at 38.60), validating the model's stability compared to traditional IPOs.
• Direct listings are suitable only for companies with a sufficient distributed shareholder base to provide immediate market liquidity; they are not appropriate for firms needing to raise new capital.
• The four primary drivers for companies going public remain capital raising, brand visibility/roadshow benefits, employee liquidity for RSUs, and M&A currency.