Cooper Steps Up as Ava Labs Reshuffles the Top Ava Labs has overhauled its senior leadership, elevating Charley Cooper (@CharleyCooper01) from chief operating officer to president. @AvaLabs f
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AnonymousCryptoCompass newsroom
August 19, 2026
2 min read
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Cooper Steps Up as Ava Labs Reshuffles the Top
Ava Labs has overhauled its senior leadership, elevating Charley Cooper (@CharleyCooper01) from chief operating officer to president. @AvaLabs founder and chief executive Emin Gün Sirer (@el33th4xor) announced the changes, noting that his own role remains unchanged.
Cooper brings a heavyweight financial and regulatory background to the role. He has previously held positions at R3 and State Street Global Exchange, and according to the original announcement also spent time at Deutsche Bank and the CFTC. In his new position he will oversee day-to-day operations at the company.
Ava Labs is a software development company focused on making it simple to deploy high-performance solutions for Web3, leveraging innovations built on the Avalanche blockchain platform.
Chiu Confirmed as CFO, Wu Moves to Advisory Role
Lydia Chiu (@encycloplydia) has been confirmed as chief financial officer, stepping up from an interim position she had already been holding. Chiu comes from a traditional finance background, having previously worked at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. She joined Ava Labs as part of the company's 2020 acquisition of Investery Inc., initially taking the role of vice president of business development.
John Wu (@John1wu), who had served as president, transitions to a senior advisor position with a focus on long-term strategy. Prior to joining Ava Labs, Wu founded Sureview Capital with a strategic investment from Blackstone, and was formerly a tech investor at Kingdon Capital and Tiger Management.
The moves signal a maturation in Ava Labs' corporate structure as the Avalanche ecosystem continues to compete for institutional and developer attention in the layer-1 blockchain space.
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