Siebert will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree during UNCG’s 113th graduation exercises.
At 10 a.m. in the Greensboro Coliseum, UNCG will recognize students who have completed degrees at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels.
Siebert came to Wall Street when she accepted a position as a trainee research analyst with the leading firm Bache & Co. in 1954.
She became the first female member of the NYSE in 1967. Her climb was challenging — nine of the first 10 men Siebert asked to sponsor her application turned her down and she nearly did not obtain the $300,000 bank loan necessary to acquire her $450,000 NYSE seat.
In 1969, she opened her own firm, Muriel Siebert and Co., Inc.
Her no-holds-barred approach to career challenges has earned her a risk-taker reputation. On Wall Street’s famous “May Day,” May 1, 1975, when a new federal law abolished fixed commissions for brokers, she announced that her company would become a discount commission house.
Because of this decision, Siebert lost the long-time relationship with the clearing house that backed her firm and faced SEC expulsions if she could not find another house to clear her transactions within 60 days. She found another clearing house just before the deadline and led her firm to success as a pioneer in discount brokering.
During her career, Siebert has been New York State Superintendent of Banking, has run for the U.S. Senate and has established the innovative Siebert Entrepreneurial Philanthropic Plan to share her firm’s net profits with charities. Siebert received the Financial Women’s Association “Woman of the Year” award and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor Award in 1994, was a founding member of the Women’s Forum, and is a member of numerous financial organizations.
