Innovayte names former Apex COO Fritz Louis-Charles chief operating officer

Innovayte, a Dallas-based custody and clearing firm for RIAs and wealth managers, appointed Fritz Louis-Charles as chief operating officer, reporting to CEO Cat Davies. He arrives from Apex Fintech Solutions, where he was chief operating officer and concurrently CEO of Apex Direct, its affiliated introducing broker/dealer.

Louis-Charles brings more than 20 years in financial services, with expertise in brokerage operations, clearing and custody, fintech, risk management and business transformation, according to the announcement. He previously held leadership positions at JPMorgan Chase and TD Ameritrade, where the announcement credits him with leading brokerage operations, regulatory initiatives, technology implementations and large-scale operational transformation. "Fritz is a proven operator with a rare combination of deep industry expertise and a track record of building scalable, high-performing organizations," Davies said in a statement.

Apex has been expanding its own platform. In August it launched a prediction-markets platform with Tastytrade as its first adopter; in September it paired FusionIQ's cloud wealth platform with its clearing rail, aiming the bundle at banks and credit unions.

Arax, the New York wealth platform backed by RedBird Capital Partners, promoted early employee Diego Galan to chief operating officer, according to the People Moves roundup. PWD reported on Oct. 6 that Galan has run Arax's finances since its 2022 founding and adds operations and M&A to his CFO remit. He succeeds John O'Connor, who moved to the firm's Project Management Office. Arax has also been adding services: on Oct. 1 we reported its partnership with KingsRock, which adds capital raising, structured financing and strategic advisory for Arax clients.

Mesirow hired an investment executive from Morningstar, the roundup says. PWD reported Sept. 30 that Mesirow hired Mark Nichol.

Two COO appointments at platform firms in the same week extends the C-suite phase of the wealth talent war PWD described in August, when four C-suite hires landed in seven days.