It was a phone call Amy Butte tells us she will never forget. Lifting the receiver, she heard the familiar voice of her father—an accountant who had always championed her career. But this time, his words were tinged with a curious mixture of praise and amazement. He simply couldn’t fathom how his daughter, who had taken only one accounting class, was now the CFO of the New York Stock Exchange. “Finance leadership is more than numbers,” Butte reminds us, explaining that, for her, success hinges on weaving data into a strategic narrative that shapes decisions.

That same flair for bold moves followed her into a pivotal meeting with the NYSE’s new leadership. “How’d you like to be the CFO?” she was asked on the spot, an offer so direct it felt surreal. Butte tells us she immediately saw an opportunity to modernize a centuries-old institution, and within two and a half years—half the time originally planned—she was leading the organization’s transition to a public company. The accelerated timeline tested her agility, forcing her to rethink legacy processes and overhaul entrenched systems. Through it all, she discovered that being an agent of change meant continuously blending operational discipline with forward-thinking ideas.