Her Story: Bea Ringold

Cboe Blog
March 26, 2019

From the trading floor to corporate, Bea’s seen it all in her 38 years at Cboe

Bea Ringold got her start at Cboe as a price reporter in 1981, much to the surprise of friends and family.

“People would see traders and trading floors on the news and say, ‘You work there?! You actually do that?!’ It was a big thing back in the day. The floor was so crowded we hardly had elbow room,” Bea says.

Packed in with the floor’s many characters, Bea soon rose through the ranks, working as a quote reporter and then a quote relief operator.

“You can only do so much and then you’re at a standstill,” she says. “And who wants to be like that?”

As a quote relief operator, Bea worked in every stock on the floor and found herself in the IBM and General Electric pits at their busiest.

“Back then, if you couldn’t keep up, they would kick you out and bring somebody else in,” she says. But Bea always found her way in. “People would tell me, ‘you’re good and people can rely on you.’ And if people can rely on you, then that works in your favor a lot.”

Bea saw the floor at its peak, and at its worst. She witnessed the infamous stock market crash on Black Monday, October 19, 1987. “It was a day I will never forget,” she says. “It was really something.”

Cboe’s trading pits have changed significantly over Bea’s storied 38-year career. “It’s still exciting,” she says, “but people were everywhere back then.”

After 25 years on the floor, Bea went corporate, working in Statistical Analysis before moving into Cboe’s Badges and Jackets department. It’s a little quieter than the chaotic pits she knew, but there is still plenty of work to be done, and Bea continues to meet new people and welcome visitors from her early days at Cboe, which never gets old.

“It’s a good feeling when they come and make a big fuss,” she says of the brokers and traders who stop by regularly – sometimes with little gifts and goodies – like breakfast. “I even have brokers that used to trade here come by and say ‘I had to come and see if you’re still here,’” she smiles. “Yes I’m still here!”

Bea is excited by the transformative change at Cboe – but she never imagined she’d be at the company to see it 38 years later.

“I didn’t plan on staying here that long. And little did I know, here I am. This might be my last stop,” she said. “It was crazy but I wouldn’t take it back for anything.”

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