Sharon Bowen was named Monday as chair of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), its parent company announced, becoming the first Black woman to hold the role at the Wall Street fixture.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) also announced the President of its Fixed Income and Data Services division, Lynn Martin, will take over as NYSE president from Stacey Cunningham, who will join the exchange's board of directors.

"As organizations everywhere adjust to a world transformed by the pandemic, our management team is evolving along with the market environment," ICE founder Jeff Sprecher said in a letter announcing the changes.

Bowen, who is already a member of the boards of ICE and the NYSE, served from 2014 to 2017 as a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission overseeing futures markets.

Sharon Bowen is the first Black woman to head the New York Stock Exchange
Sharon Bowen is the first Black woman to head the New York Stock Exchange Intercontinental Exchange via AFP / Handout

In 2010, then-president Barack Obama named her to a vice chair of the body regulating US broker-dealers, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.

Bowen also worked for three decades as a partner and associate in law firms, specializing in business law.

With 2,400 listed companies and a combined capitalization of $36 trillion, the NYSE, located in New York's Lower Manhattan business district, bills itself as the world's largest stock exchange.

In 2013, ICE acquired the NYSE Euronext Group, which was created by the merger of the American and European stock exchanges, for $8.2 billion.