Ava Labs named Lydia Chiu permanent chief financial officer on August 18, 2026, promoting her from the interim role she had held1. The move came in a blog post from John Wu, the outgoing president, who announced his own shift to senior advisor in the same post. Wu had spent seven years at Ava Labs by the August 18, 2026 announcement, CryptoTimes reported2.
The third executive hire at Ava Labs on the record since 2021
Leadership moves CryptoLately has verified at Ava Labs, by year
- 2026: 4
- 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2022 | 0 |
| 2023 | 1 |
| 2024 | 0 |
| 2025 | 0 |
| 2026 | 4 |
45 executive hires on the record in 2026 so far
Executive hires CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2026: 45
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 11 |
| 2020 | 12 |
| 2021 | 27 |
| 2022 | 37 |
| 2023 | 20 |
| 2024 | 39 |
| 2025 | 59 |
| 2026 | 45 |
The move
Wu described Chiu's appointment in his own words. “I'm also pleased to share that Lydia Chiu has been appointed Chief Financial Officer from Interim CFO. She is a seasoned financial services professional with experience as a former Credit Suisse banker and hedge fund analyst,” Wu wrote1. Charley Cooper moved up in the same post, taking the president title after serving as Ava Labs' chief operating officer. Cooper posted his own reaction on X, CryptoTimes reported. “I'm excited to step into the role of President at Ava Labs,” Cooper said2. Founder and chief executive Emin Gün Sirer posted the changes himself, saying his own role as chief executive would stay the same, CryptoTimes reported.
Three roles moved at once
Wu's post tied all three changes to one transition. Cooper will run Ava Labs' daily operations, and Wu steps back to advise on long-term strategy instead1. Cooper's own résumé spans R3, State Street, Deutsche Bank and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a U.S. regulator, Wu wrote. Wu also credited the company's growth in the same post. He recalled a team of ten Cornellians working out of a modest office in Brooklyn that has become, in his words, "a company of over 200 people". CryptoTimes reported that Sirer's statement repeated Ava Labs' focus on blockchain developers, institutions and enterprises2.
What to watch
Chiu's mandate now covers Ava Labs' finances under a permanent title, dropping the interim one. Wu's post offered her years as a Credit Suisse banker and hedge fund analyst as her qualification for the job1. Cooper's own path through the CFTC and State Street is the second thread to track, since Wu's post framed the whole reshuffle around a shift underway across markets. "Blockchain is becoming increasingly integrated into global finance," he wrote. The next test comes when Ava Labs names a specific institutional deal under Cooper and Chiu's watch.
Sources
- John Wu, "A Leadership Announcement from Ava Labs," Avalanche (Ava Labs Blog), August 18, 2026, https://www.avax.network/about/blog/a-leadership-announcement-from-ava-labs
- Isha Chavda, "Ava Labs Names Charley Cooper President as John Wu Moves to Senior Advisor," CryptoTimes, August 19, 2026, https://www.cryptotimes.io/2026/08/19/ava-labs-names-charley-cooper-president-as-john-wu-moves-to-senior-advisor/