Sharon Y. Bowen, the first Black woman to head the New York Stock Exchange, was born on July 23, 1956, in Chesapeake, Virginia, to Leverta Wilson and Allen Dosher Bowen, Sr. She is the youngest of five children. Her father was an electrician at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Her sister, Sheila Bowen Taylor, was the first Black woman to serve as a nuclear engineer there.
As a child, Bowen attended segregated schools. By the time she entered high school, the public schools were desegregated. Bowen excelled in this new environment, becoming student body president and homecoming queen, and she finished second in her class.
In 1978, Bowen received her B.S. degree in economics from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. In 1982, Bowen received both her M.B.A. degree and her J.D. degrees from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and Northwestern University School of Law, respectively.
After graduation, Bowen worked as an attorney at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardell in New York City. In 1988, she joined the firm of Latham & Watkins and was named a partner in 1991. At Latham, she co-chaired the firm’s diversity committee, co-chaired the firm’s diversity hiring subcommittee, and co-founded the firm’s Women Enriching Business (WEB) Task Force.
In 2010, Bowen was appointed by President Barack Obama as vice chair of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). She was promoted to acting chair in 2012. During her time at the agency, she experienced some of the nation’s biggest bankruptcies, the Lehman Brothers Investment House collapse and the Bernie Madoff financial fraud.
In 2014, Bowen became a Commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), becoming the first African American to hold this position. Bowen remained at the CFTC until 2017. Her tenure at the CFTC coincided with enacting the rules developed as part of the Dodd-Frank reforms, which followed the 2008 financial crisis.
In 2021, Bowen became the chair of the New York Stock Exchange, one of the world’s most enduring symbols of capitalism. She is the first woman or person of color to hold that position in the exchange’s 229-year history. Bowen has also served as a board member for the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and Public Education Needs Civil Involvement in Learning (PENCIL). She also served as a member of the Boards of Bakkt Trust, Neuberger Berman, and Akami Technologies.
In 2006, Bowen was selected as the Metropolitan Black Bar Association Lawyer of the Year. The following year, she was named the New York City Bar Association Diversity Champion. She was inducted into the Futures Industry Association Hall of Fame in 2022.
At the NYSE, Bowen has worked to expand the number of companies listed on the exchange and to further the NYSE’s efforts in the areas of environmental, social, and governance. As co-chair of the NYSE Board Advisory Council, she works to identify diverse candidates for open board seats among NYSE-listed companies.
Bowen is married to Larry Morse.
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“Sharon Y. Bowen,” The HistoryMakers, https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/sharon-y-
“Sharon Bowen has Never Been Shy About Making History,” New York Stock Exchange, https://www.nyse.com/taking-stock/nyse-chair-sharon-bowen-has-never-been-shy-about-making-history
