Success Rings Out From Nasdaq As Progress Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Celebrating 40 years as a company and 30 years on the Nasdaq is a big deal. Ringing the bell at the stock exchange was one of the highlights of a year already full of memorable moments. Looking back, we’ve shared incredible stories and celebrated the people and innovation that make us ProgressPROUD.

All year, folks here at Progress have been celebrating the company’s 40th anniversary in various ways—from fireside chat videos with our founders and former leaders who made their vision a reality, to a curated internal scrapbook filled with pictures, videos and customer stories, to a special section on Progress.com, and more.

Our growth from a single product developed at Mary Székely’s dining room table to a global company propelling business forward in a tech-driven world, has been amazing.

This growth has led to our success on the Nasdaq. For the first time since 2016 and the seventh time overall, Progress rang the opening bell. CEO Yogesh Gupta did the honors, giving a speech and hitting the button to start the day’s trading in a ceremony with about 30 Progressers in attendance, including seven members of our leadership team alongside longtime employees like Shelley Chase, a software fellow who has been at Progress for 26 years.

The ceremony was broadcast online and on the 2.1 million pixels of flickering LEDs on the seven-story Nasdaq MarketSite tower in New York’s Times Square. The 44-foot-high display commemorated our anniversaries and highlighted our updated brand messaging of “Progress that’s built around you.”

There’s nothing like seeing your logo on one of giant displays in Times Square. Pretty cool.

David Wicks, VP of Listing Services at Nasdaq, lauded Progress for our customer-first approach and touted our acquisition of application experience leader Kemp, which had been announced just days earlier.

“You all have been busy,” Wicks said with a laugh.

Gupta gave credit, first and foremost, to employees and also recognized customers who have been with us for years.

“The success of Progress is driven by one group and one group alone, and that is our employees,” he said. “For a company in the tech industry to be around for 40 years is itself a remarkable, remarkable success, and I really applaud your efforts and the support of your families who have helped you support us. So, thank you very much.

“The customers who have been with us for decades, as we know in some cases, are really the folks that pay our bills,” he continued. “When we look at our paycheck it says, ‘Progress,’ but it really is Progress customers. I really am thankful for their support, their continued use of our products, their recognition that we solve real problems for them, and because of that, we continue to be relevant to them. Even more so today than we were 40 years ago.”

Watch our highlight video of the bell-ringing below.

What better place to ring in a great year—or 40 great years—and look forward to a bright future than in Times Square?

Here’s to building momentum for another 40 years.

To read more about our 40th anniversary in the words of our longtime employees, see our interviews here.