Mr Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), declared victory as the Big Board reopened after a four-day shutdown following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre.
Having joined the NYSE in 1968, Mr Grasso has led the Big Board since 1995. Once described by the Economist as "the public face of the American bull market", he was one of the chief architects of the Big Board's plan to expand into the $20 trillion (21.9 trillion)global market of 24-hour trading.
He oversaw the NYSE's move toward quoting prices of stocks and options in decimals rather than fractions, bringing the exchange in sync with decimal-trading bourses around the world.
He is also the man behind plans to turn the exchange from a non-profit organisation to a money-making public company.
Until now, his greatest challenge had been modernising the NYSE. But that all changed on September 11th when the two hijacked aircraft were crashed into the World Trade Centre, forcing the world's biggest financial district to a halt.
The 55-year-old has seen plenty of change and has learned to roll with the punches during his 33-year career at the NYSE.
The working-class kid from Queens, New York, with no college diploma (but plenty of honorary degrees) became the NYSE's chairman in June 1995. The ascent came after a five-year period during which Mr Grasso had to bite his tongue as number two to Mr William Donaldson, co-founder of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, the New York investment bank.
It has been reported that Mr Grasso gave his boss the cold shoulder - even one-upping him at meetings - after the NYSE picked Mr Donaldson over Mr Grasso, who was deemed too much of an insider.
Mr Grasso started in the listings department of the exchange in 1968 after spending two years with the US army, stationed at home as the war in Vietnam escalated. The job in the listings department was originally meant to be temporary until Mr Grasso found a position with a brokerage firm. Instead, he worked his way up the ladder. Insiders say he used the threat of defecting to a brokerage house as a lever to gain promotions for much of his career.
Five years after he joined the exchange, Mr Grasso became director of listings and marketing. From there he moved to corporate services, becoming vice-president in 1977 and senior vice-president in 1981.
Just two years later he was made executive vice-president for the marketing group and then moved with that title to the capital group in 1986.
In 1988, Mr Grasso shattered a nearly 200-year-old ceiling at the NYSE when he became the first staff member of the exchange to become president and chief operating officer. He subsequently became the first insider to be made executive vice-chairman in 1991 and then chairman and chief executive in 1995.
Throughout his tenure, he has been known as a ferocious leader, who often humiliated staffers in front of their colleagues. He also used the in-your-face approach against Nasdaq, the NYSE's biggest competitor among traditional exchanges.
Mr Grasso celebrated each company that defected from Nasdaq to NYSE with much pomp and circumstance.
In fact, his circus-like public relations stunts have grown to become Grasso hallmarks. Whether celebrating the listing of a German company with a beach set-up or a cosmetics company with supermodels on each arm, Mr Grasso thinks big. In 1997, when Gateway began trading on the NYSE, he invited Arianna - the Holstein cow and Gateway's mascot - to visit the exchange.
Gimmicks aside, Mr Grasso - now cast in the role of industry statesman - remains focused on the task ahead: returning Wall Street to business as usual and reassuring nervous workers and investors.
Before the bell marking the reopening of the exchange following the attacks, Mr Grasso made clear his resolve: "The best way to communicate to these criminals that they've been unsuccessful is for us to ring that bell and be back in business."
