People Moves: Cresset Hires BlackRock Alum as Market Strategist
Cresset, a multi-family office based in New York overseeing more than $250 billion in client assets, announced had appointed Joe Zidle as executive managing director and chief market strategist.
Zidle will work alongside Cresset’s investment and advisory teams to shape the firm’s market and investment perspectives across macroeconomics, asset allocation, and public and private markets.
Zidle’s most recent role at a firm was as senior managing director and chief investment strategist at Blackstone Private Wealth, where he spent nearly eight years developing investment strategies and providing insights to private wealth investors.
After Blackstone, Zidle founded Zidle Macro Strategy Group, an independent research and investment strategy firm focused on the intersection of macroeconomics, public and private markets, asset allocation and portfolio construction. He had also been a strategist with Richard Bernstein Advisors and Merrill Lynch.
“Cresset has built something distinctive by bringing together investment management, wealth planning and family office capabilities around the needs of families, business owners and entrepreneurs,” Zidle said in a statement. “That is exactly the environment in which I want to apply my experience.”
Innovayte Names Fritz Louis-Charles COO
Innovayte, a Dallas-based custody and clearing firm for registered investment advisors and wealth managers, has appointed former Apex Fintech Solutions executive Fritz Louis-Charles as chief operating officer, the firm announced.
Louis-Charles will oversee Innovayte’s enterprise-wide operations, reporting to CEO Cat Davies. Louis-Charles makes the move after being chief operating officer of Apex Fintech Solutions, while concurrently serving as CEO of Apex Direct, its affiliated introducing broker/dealer.
“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.
Louis-Charles has more than 20 years of experience in financial services, with expertise in brokerage operations, clearing and custody, fintech, risk management and business transformation, according to the announcement.
Earlier in his career, he held leadership positions at JPMorgan Chase and TD Ameritrade, where he led brokerage operations, regulatory initiatives, technology implementations and large-scale operational transformation efforts.
Arax Promotes Diego Galan to COO
Arax, a New York City-based wealth management platform backed by private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, has promoted early employee Diego Galan to chief operating officer, in addition to his prior duties, the firm announced this week.
Galan makes the switch after being Arax’s chief financial officer since the firm’s founding in 2022. He now oversees Arax’s operations, technology, mergers and acquisitions, and human resources functions, while continuing to lead the firm’s finance department.
“Diego and I have worked together for many years and have long shared the vision for building this firm,” founder and CEO Haig Ariyan said in a statement. “From the outset, he has played a central role in building Arax into what it is today, with leadership that has extended well beyond finance.”
Galan succeeds John O’Connor, who will transition to a leadership role within Arax’s Project Management Office, focused on executing key strategic initiatives across the firm.
Galan brings nearly two decades of work in financial services, strategy, operations and technology. Prior to joining Arax, he co-founded and served as chief operating officer of Bento Engine, a wealth-management fintech, and, before that, held senior leadership roles at Raymond James and Deutsche Bank.
Mesirow Hires Morningstar Leader as Head of Investment Solutions
Mesirow, an employee-owned financial services firm based in Chicago with about $390.6 billion in assets under supervision, has hired Paul Arnold as managing director and head of investment solutions for Mesirow Wealth Management, according to an announcement this week.
Arnold was the former global head of multi-asset research at Morningstar Investment Management, which managed over $10 billion in assets. At Mesirow, he will seek to deepen the firm’s research offerings by translating investment research into practical strategies, according to the announcement.
“We’re continuing to build a best-in-class investment platform for our advisors and clients, and bringing Paul in is an important step in that strategy,” CEO Brian D. Price said in a statement.
Arnold will work with the Mesirow Wealth Management research team to try and strengthen the firm’s investment platform, with responsibilities including strategic asset allocation, manager research and due diligence, portfolio construction and the development of investment solutions.
This year, Mesirow has pushed further into the institutional retirement plan investment and advice space by acquiring LeafHouse Financial Advisors, a division of retirement plan investment solutions firm LeafHouse Financial Group, and flexPATH Strategies’ 3(38) custom investment management business.
