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DALLAS — Colorado County businessman, Wayne Penello, founder and chief executive officer of NextGenEMP, joined Texas Governor Greg Abbott and New York Stock Exchange President Lynn Martin on the podium Aug. 27, for the grand opening of the NYSE Texas in Dallas.
Abbott rang the NYSE Closing Bell from the exchange’s new Texas headquarters at the historic Old Parkland campus. NYSE Texas, which began operations in 2025, is a fully electronic equities exchange headquarters in Dallas and represents the New York Stock Exchange’s growing presence in Texas.
Next Gen EMP launched the Efficient Market Portfolio Plus ETF (EMPB) on Dec. 11, 2024. The fund is listed on NYE Arca and is also dually listed on NYSE Texas, giving the Colorado County-based investment company a presence in both New York and Texas financial markets.
Since its launch, EMPB has appreciated approximately 39%, compared with approximately 27% for the S&P 500 over the same period, according to performance figures provided by NextGen EMP. Past performance does not guarantee future investment results.
EMPB is an actively managed exchange-traded fund designed to pursue long-term capital appreciate while managing investment risk. Rather than investing primarily in individual stocks, the fund generally invests in other exchange-traded funds, providing broad exposure to hundreds of companies and different sectors of the economy.
NextGen EMP uses proprietary algorithms to analyze market trends and identify sectors and asset classes with stronger or weaker growth prospects. The portfolio takes long positions in areas the strategy identifies as having greater potential and can take limited short positions in areas the strategy identifies as having greater potential and can take limited short positions in areas expected to underperform. The approach combines the diversification principles of Modern Portfolio Theory with current market data and systematic investment techniques.
The Aug. 27 ceremony was not Penello’s first appearance on an NYSE bell podium. On Jan. 2, 2026 – the first trading day of the year – Penello range the Closing Bell at the New York Stock Exchange on behalf of NextGen EMP and EMPB. He was joined in New York by other NextGen EMP executives and guests.
Eight months later, his appearance at the opening of NYSE Texas placed the area investment manager alongside state officials and business leaders for an event highlighting Texas’ increasing importance in the national economy. Texas now has 57 Fortune 500 company headquarters, more than any other state, according to the Governor’s office. Those companies account for a combined $2.8 trillion in revenue, and roughly one in 10 publicly traded U.S. companies is now headquartered in Texas.
At the August ceremony, Abbott described the new exchange as a natural development for the state’s expanding economy. “Texas has now been home to the most capital of any state in the United States of America, and it just makes sense that Texas is now home to capital markets right here in Dallas,” Abbott said.
NYSE President Lynn Martin joined Abbott and other officials for the ceremony, with Penello among the invited business leaders on the podium as the Governor prepared to ring the bell.
For NextGen EMPB, the occasion highlighted the unusual intersection of a locally-based investment business and the nation’s financial markets. While operating nationally, the company’s principal office remains in Columbus, Texas.
From launching EMPB in December 2024, to ringing the NYSE Closing Bell in New York on the first trading day of 2026, to participating in the opening of NYSE Texas in Dallas, Penello and NextGen EMP have reached a series of milestones as Texas assumes an increasingly prominent role in American business and finance.
