It has been said that Muriel Siebert's middle name is "risk." The CEO of Siebert Financial Corp. took perhaps her biggest and best-known gamble in 1967 when she applied to become the first woman member of the New York Stock Exchange.

After having earned a partnership in a leading Wall Street brokerage firm, a seat on the Exchange seemed like a natural next step. But, her efforts were ridiculed and openly opposed by many men on Wall Street. She was turned down by nine of the first 10 men she asked to sponsor her application.

To make matters worse, the Stock Exchange pulled a fast one on her. Before considering her for membership, a new condition was imposed requiring her to produce a letter from a bank saying they would lend her $300,000 of the near-record $445,000 seat price. She was placed in a double bind when she was told that banks wouldn't loan her the money until the Stock Exchange agreed to admit her.

Many months later, she finally found the needed bank loans and sponsors, and was elected to membership on Dec. 28, 1967. She celebrated the 30th anniversary of her membership by ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 5, 1998.

Mickie (as most people call her) took her next big risk on May 1, 1975, on Wall Street's famous "May Day," when a new federal law abolished fixed commissions for brokers. A full-page newspaper ad showed Mickie cutting a hundred dollar bill in half, announcing that Muriel Siebert & Co. would become a discount commission house.

Wall Street's reaction was hostile. She was dropped on the spot by her long-time clearing house, and Siebert & Co. faced SEC expulsion in 60 days if she couldn't find another house to clear her transactions. Wangling a 30-day extension, she signed up another house just in time, and led her company to dramatic success in the new world of discount brokering.

Risk-taking jumped to global proportions with Muriel Siebert's next career move. The long-time Republican was appointed by Democratic Governor Hugh Carey in 1977 to become superintendent of New York State's Banking Department.

Her first years in this post happened to coincide with perilous challenges in the banking industry. Interest rates climbed steeply and bank failures became common across the country.

Mickie acted swiftly and boldly to prevent bankruptcies in New York State. When she sensed danger six months down the road, she launched protective measures immediately, instead of waiting until a bank was days away from collapse.

She reorganized troubled banks, demanding drastic measures to keep them afloat. She forced banks to merge and persuaded stronger institutions to help weaker ones. Jokingly, she reminded foot-draggers that the initials for her title as "superintendent of banking" were S.O.B. Her daring combination of carrot, stick and creativity paid off. Not one bank in New York State failed.

In 1982, Mickie resigned from her government post to run for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. It was her first campaign for a political office. She finished second among three candidates in the primary election.

During her years as superintendent of banking, Mickie placed Muriel Siebert & Co. in a blind trust to be run by her employees. She now admits that this was a costly mistake. When she returned to her firm after five years in government, her company was in shambles. Three of her employees had walked out with tapes of her customer lists. Mickie had to rebuild every department of the company.

The company is flourishing again. She rejected several buyout offers in 1987. "As the only woman owner of a Stock Exchange firm, I felt an obligation to finish the job I started," she said.

"The secret to making a difference is to take stands, take risks, take responsibility, and care deeply about how America's big institutions affect the lives of individual people," she was quoted as saying.

Demonstrating that she practices what she preaches, she established the innovative Siebert Entrepreneurial Philanthropic Plan (SEPP) in 1990 to share with charities half of her firm's profits from new securities underwritings. The SEPP program offers issuers of securities, or institutional buyers of new issues, the opportunity to help charities in their communities by designating the recipient of the SEPP donation. To date, SEPP donations of over $4 million have gone to charities across the nation.

In October 2000, Siebert Financial Corp. purchased two women's Web sites, wfn.com and herdollar.com, which became the foundation for the Women's Financial Network at www.wfn.com.

It has been heralded as the first women's site that incorporates trading-online, phone or in person - including buying and selling of stocks, bonds and mutual funds, as well as free checking, online bill-paying, and the ability to aggregate financial accounts on one site.

"We are starting this site," Mickie said, "because it is time to give women investors the customized, targeted services they deserve. Although there are sites out there that purport to address the financial needs of women, in my opinion, they offer trivia and fail to provide the real tools women need. Even worse, many of them talk down to women. This site will be the best one on finance for women-and men-on the Web."

Noting that women are starting businesses at twice the rate of men, the company has targeted women business owners with products such as 401(k) plans and a variety of options for financing growth. "We have created a site owned and operated by women…at a time when women realize they must take control of their finances," Mickie said. "Our site has been established to help them do just that."

"The Internet is equivalent to the Industrial Revolution," she adds. "It has leveled the playing field between individual and institutional investors by giving them the same information at the same time. We are leveling the playing field, too, for women."

The daughter of a dentist, Mickie was raised in Cleveland and attended Western Reserve University. Although she never graduated from college, she has received honorary doctorate degrees from a number of colleges and universities, and has been a visiting lecturer at the Harvard Business School, Dartmouth College, and New York University Graduate School of Business Administration, among others.

Comfortable with the label feminist, Mickie has been known to exhort industry to utilize women more aggressively. "American business will find that women executives can be a strong competitive weapon against Japan and Germany, and other countries that still limit their talent pool to the male 50 percent of their population," she says.

Muriel Siebert has so many awards and honors to her credit, the list is staggering. A founding member of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), the organization honored her with its "Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award" in June 1992. At an induction ceremony at the Veuve Clicquot vineyards in Reims, a vine was named after her.

She is a founder and board member of the WISH List, a political action group which supports Pro-Choice Republican women candidates for higher office, and a member of the Committee of 200, an organization of leading American women business owners. She is also a founding member of the Women's Forum, an organization of 250 pre-eminent women in the New York area that has expanded into an international leadership network.

She received the first national Emily Warren Roebling Award from the National Women's Hall of Fame, and the Equal Opportunity Award of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund. Not surprisingly, Muriel Siebert was the first woman selected as "one who has made a difference" for the Working Women Hall of Fame.

If the New York Stock Exchange had managed to keep Muriel Siebert from earning membership back in 1967, the American business world would be a less productive and far less interesting place. Thankfully, Mickie wouldn't take no for an answer.