26 Aug RIP Wall Street and Reverse Merger Pioneer Muriel Siebert

A champion for Wall Street, for women and for reverse mergers, Muriel “Mickie” Siebert passed the other day at age 80. Mickie was the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. She also took her brokerage firm public through a reverse merger rather than a traditional IPO. She had one of the first discount brokerage firms back in the 1970s. In addition, she spent some time as head of banking for New York State.

I shared a panel with Mickie at a reverse merger conference a number of years ago. She enthusiastically supported the idea of companies embracing alternatives to costly, time consuming and risky IPOs. But she made clear that a company should be sure that (1) they can benefit from being public, (2) they can bear the costs of doing so and (3) if pursuing a shell merger they are cautious about whom they deal with.

Mickie fought many early battles for women’s rights in the all-too men’s club of Wall Street. It took years to fight for a ladies’ bathroom near the NYSE members’ restaurant, even threatening to have a port-a-potty delivered if they didn’t comply. They did. So much to say, but for here let’s say you will be remembered as an innovator, an awesome entrepreneur and a fighter for equality.