Dallas-based Digital Ascension Group, a wealth management firm specializing in digital assets, has appointed three senior executives to its leadership team, aiming to reinforce the platform’s next growth phase in investment management, product strategy, operations, and compliance.

The new executives—Chief Investment Officer Louis Hsu, Chief Product and Strategy Officer Kristen Mirabella, and Chief Compliance Officer Cynthia Jackson—bring with them extensive experience at such leading financial institutions as Goldman Sachs, Schwab, U.S. Bank, BlackRock, and Grayscale, the firm said.

Erin Friez, CEO of Digital Ascension Group, said that while many financial institutions are still reacting to the rise of digital assets, “Digital Ascension Group is a leader in the space, proactively defining how this asset class is incorporated into a sophisticated wealth strategy.”

“The addition of Louis, Kristen, and Cynthia aligns with our objective of providing a coordinated leadership structure that mirrors the sophistication of modern wealth management,” Friez added in a statement. “Their collective expertise reinforces our commitment to support investors, family offices and advisors who value clarity, institutional-grade strategy and disciplined governance in their digital asset portfolios.”

Investment strategy and product development

Before joining Digital Ascension Group, Hsu served as SVP of Portfolio Management and Trading at Grayscale Investments and was a VP at BlackRock and Franklin Templeton, managing multi-asset ETF portfolios across developed and emerging markets. As chief investment officer of Digital Wealth Partners, an SEC-registered subsidiary of Digital Ascension Group, he will oversee the firm’s investment strategy and portfolio management and support the development and launch of investment solutions in various digital asset allocation frameworks.

In her career, Mirabella has focused on expanding access to digital assets around the world, working in wealth management and emerging financial technologies at both Goldman Sachs and Gemini. As chief product and strategy officer, she’ll guide product development, platform strategy, and strategic partnerships. Mirabella brings extensive experience building and scaling institutional grade digital asset solutions, supporting ongoing development of a firm’s capabilities across the digital asset ecosystem while staying connected to product strategy and the evolving needs of advisors and sophisticated investors.

Managing the evolving regulatory environment

Jackson has over 25 years as a financial services executive and regulatory risk leader with experience spanning registered investment advisors, traditional banking, broker-dealers, and emerging digital finance. Previously, Jackson served as a senior digital asset product manager at U.S. Bank, where she developed regulatory frameworks for tokenized assets and navigated the compliance complexities of blockchain technology. Throughout her tenure at U.S. Bank, U.S. Bancorp Investments, LPL Financial, and Banc of America Investments, she has created and implemented compliance programs for investment advisors operating in ever-changing regulatory environments, including digital assets.

As chief compliance officer of Digital Ascension Group, Jackson will lead the firm’s compliance program, regulatory governance, and risk management framework, using her expertise to align enterprise risk management with compliance infrastructure to empower “responsible growth at the intersection of innovation and financial oversight within the evolving digital asset ecosystem,” the company said.

‘Holistic ecosystem’ for managing digital assets

The appointments come as institutional and individual investors seek comprehensive, advisory-led approaches to managing digital assets, the firm said. Unlike the fragmented solutions offered at other firms, Digital Ascension Group said it focuses on a single coordinated approach to supporting disciplined digital asset wealth management.

As digital assets become an established part of client portfolios and traditional financial institutions continue to evaluate and develop digital asset capabilities, Digital Ascension Group said it is providing “a coordinated framework for managing digital asset strategies.”

The leadership expansion provides thought leadership and the capability to address operational and compliance considerations when combining traditional wealth management and digital asset strategies. The appointments reinforce Digital Ascension Group’s continued focus as the industry incorporates digital assets into wealth management strategies, where coordination and long-term planning are important, the firm said.

Digital Ascension Group supports clients in various stages of digital asset wealth management, from initial allocation and custody decisions to long-term tax, estate, and asset protection planning. By serving as a single point of coordination throughout the lifecycle, the firm said it “seeks to enable clients to navigate digital assets within one holistic ecosystem.”

Additionally, the firm provides the framework to enable other registered investment advisors to incorporate digital assets into client portfolios, supporting compliance, reporting, and portfolio integration without requiring firms to build internal capabilities.

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