MURIEL SIEBERT

Chairman, Siebert Financial Corp.

The 65-year-old Wall Street fixture and discount brokerage head says women and minorities have made tremendous progress in the financial world since she got in the game — but not nearly enough. The first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, back in 1967, she finds it a mixed blessing that the Internet has “literally revolutionized” the way Wall Street does business.

“The Internet is the equivalent of the Industrial Revolution. Technology, obviously, will continue to unfold in dramatic ways into the millennium. The new products — derivatives, collateralized securities, all of these things — were introduced by computer gurus who may not know a lot about securities. One of the challenges is going to be if regulation can or will keep up with the technology. So far, it hasn’t.

“We are creating a permanent underclass in this country that will not be determined by race, it’s going to be determined by computers. Not everyone is being exposed. There’s a lot of schooling going on that’s just not relevant and that’s bothering me.

“I don’t find the same level of commitment to philanthropic or civic activities as when I got in. There were people I looked up to downtown, ordinary people who good things happened to — Gus Levy (late chairman of Goldman Sachs Group LP), John Coleman (former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange). They felt a deep obligation and they paid back. I don’t see as much of that now.

“The money has been too big and also a little too impersonal. Instead of dealing with people, we’re dealing with machines. It’s just happened that way, not deliberately, but as a byproduct of revolution.

“There are more opportunities in many ways today. Money management is very wide open for women. I am very disappointed that so far there aren’t any women in the true executive center of a major Wall Street firm.

“I know I’ve kicked the door open, and I’ve tried to hold it open for the people that follow me.”