By Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce
NEW YORK — For a few unforgettable minutes Tuesday afternoon, the center of the global financial world had a distinctly Houston sound.
Surrounded by Houston business leaders, executives and members of the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce, GHWCC Founder, President and CEO Suzan Deison stepped onto the podium of the New York Stock Exchange and rang the Closing Bell on Aug. 11, placing Houston, its companies and its women business leaders on one of the most recognizable stages in global business.
The New York Stock Exchange officially recognized the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce during its Aug. 11 Closing Bell ceremony, highlighting the Chamber’s mission of empowering women and girls.
For the Houston delegation standing on the trading floor, the moment represented something even larger: the economic strength of a city whose companies, entrepreneurs and business leaders are competing every day on a national and global scale.
From Houston to Wall Street
Houston has long been known as the Energy Capital of the World, but the Houston economy of today tells a much broader story.
Energy. Health care. Aerospace. Technology. Manufacturing. Financial services. Real estate. Professional services. Entrepreneurship.
The region’s reach extends across industries and across borders, and the delegation traveling with GHWCC reflected that breadth.
This wasn’t simply a trip to New York to ring a bell. It was an opportunity to put Houston relationships in the same room with one of the most influential financial institutions in the world and to showcase the women leaders and companies helping drive the region’s economy.
The New York Stock Exchange is synonymous with access to capital, growth and the public markets. Standing on its trading floor sends a message about scale and ambition, particularly for an organization whose work centers on helping women move into positions of greater leadership, ownership and economic influence.
For GHWCC, this moment was a natural extension of its mission.
For Houston, it was another reminder that the city’s business story belongs on the global stage.
More Than a Ceremonial Bell
Bell-ringing ceremonies have become one of Wall Street’s most recognizable traditions, marking milestones for companies, organizations and leaders from around the world.
Yet what happens in those final minutes of the trading day is very real.
As the market approaches 4 p.m. Eastern Time, the NYSE prepares for its Closing Auction, one of the most important liquidity events of the trading day. The familiar countdown, applause and ringing bell provide the public backdrop to a sophisticated marketplace where enormous volumes of capital change hands.
And on Aug. 11, Houston was part of that moment.
The Chamber’s appearance also extended well beyond the walls of 11 Wall Street. GHWCC promoted the ceremony to audiences in Houston and beyond, with the Closing Bell program distributed across NYSE platforms and other financial and media outlets.
Women at the Center of Houston’s Economic Story
The trip also underscored an evolution that has been taking place across Houston’s business community for years: Women aren’t simply participating in the region’s economy. They are increasingly helping lead it.
They are sitting in C-suites and boardrooms, launching and scaling companies, managing capital, negotiating deals and building the organizations that will shape Houston’s next chapter.
That is the space GHWCC has worked to expand since its founding.
The Chamber has built a network designed not simply around networking, but around economic opportunity, connecting women with corporations, entrepreneurs with resources, young women with career pathways and established leaders with the next generation.
Ringing the Closing Bell offered a highly visible symbol of that work.
But perhaps the more important story was standing around the podium.
The Houston executives, corporate partners and Chamber members who traveled to New York represented companies and organizations with their own footprints, employees, investments and economic impact. Together, they illustrated what GHWCC has increasingly become: a connector within one of America’s most dynamic business communities.
Houston’s Reach Is Global
There was another unmistakable message in the room.
Houston does not have to travel to New York to become a global city.
It already is one.
Houston’s businesses trade internationally. Its companies employ people around the world. Its Port connects commerce across continents. Its medical institutions attract patients and researchers from across the globe. Its energy companies help power economies far beyond Texas.
And Texas continues to be a major home for publicly traded companies, making the relationship between the state’s business community and the capital markets particularly important.
The trip to Wall Street simply gave that story a powerful visual.
Houston business leaders standing beneath the iconic NYSE façade.
Houston companies represented on the trading floor.
Women leaders occupying a space historically associated with some of the most powerful institutions in American business.
And then, at 4 p.m., the sound of the Closing Bell.
The Bell Rang. The Work Continues.
The celebration in New York was a milestone for the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce, but milestones matter most when they point toward what comes next.
For GHWCC, that means continuing to create access.
Access to relationships.
Access to leadership.
Access to customers and contracts.
Access to capital.
Access to the rooms where decisions are made.
And access for the young women watching today who will lead companies, build businesses and perhaps one day return to the New York Stock Exchange representing enterprises of their own.
As the Houston delegation celebrated on the trading floor Tuesday, the symbolism was hard to miss.
A bell traditionally signals the end of something.
For the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce, this one felt much more like a beginning.
Houston came to Wall Street carrying the stories of its companies, its entrepreneurs and its women leaders. And when that bell rang, the world heard Houston.
Houston Business Leaders Take the NYSE Floor
The Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce did not arrive on Wall Street alone. It brought with it a cross-section of the corporations, institutions and leaders that help power Houston’s economy.
Joining GHWCC Founder, President and CEO Suzan Deison on the Closing Bell podium were:
- Megan Avery — Stewart Title
- Jeanna Bamburg — The Woman’s Hospital of Texas
- Pearl Chu — SLB
- Kim Coomber-Hallum — bp
- Susan Dray — NRG Energy
- Tandra LeMay — Verizon
- Arcy Munoz — Fifth Third Bank
- Maria Martinez — Murphy Oil Corporation
- Nisha Pillay Modak — Morgan Stanley
- Meena Palanivelu — Murphy Oil Corporation
- Mark Plante — Wells Fargo
- Kisha Porch — JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Caroline Verot Moore — Regions Bank
- Martha Castex-Tatum – City of Houston Mayor Pro Tem and GHWCC Deputy CEO & President
The delegation represented a remarkable range of industries including energy, financial services, health care, telecommunications, real estate and professional services, offering a snapshot of the breadth of Houston’s business ecosystem.
Also joining GHWCC on the NYSE trading floor were Theresa Einhorn, retired from Haynes Boone LLP; Antoinette Latham, Verizon Business; Anjali Modak, JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Lesley Sciortino, Crowe LLP; Nancy Strohmer, philanthropist; Dr. Elizabeth Travis, retired from MD Anderson Cancer Center; Debra Hatter, Norton Rose Fulbright; and students Harper Avery and Sarah Martinez.
There was something particularly powerful about seeing that collection of Houston leaders together on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Some represented global corporations. Others represented institutions deeply rooted in Houston. Some have spent decades building careers and opening doors for other women. And among them were two students a reminder that GHWCC’s mission is as much about developing the next generation as it is about celebrating the leaders of today.
Together, they represented something larger than any single company or organization.
They represented Houston business.
A city where energy intersects with technology, medicine, finance, entrepreneurship and innovation. A city whose companies do business around the world. And a city where women are increasingly helping determine what economic leadership looks like.
The Closing Bell gave that story a global platform.
For GHWCC, bringing these leaders together was also an expression of what the Chamber does every day: connect people, companies and opportunities.
Economic influence is not built simply by being in the room and on Aug. 11, the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce brought Houston into one of the most important rooms in global business.