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Chris Ainsworth joined Pave Finance in 2022 and serves as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Operating Officer. He leads the overall development and growth of the business and holds executive positions across the firm’s subsidiaries: CEO and Managing Partner across Pave Securities LLC. and Pave Investment Advisors LLC., and Managing Partner of Pave Labs, LLC. Chris and the founding team built Pave on a clear mission: to give all investors the opportunity to the best investment advice possible at the lowest cost. Under his leadership, the company delivers on that mission through a proprietary optimization engine, AI-powered research across thousands of securities, and audit-ready compliance documentation for qualified financial professionals.
Chris brings over 20 years of experience at the highest levels of wealth management, with a focus on capital raising, operations, and building investment businesses at scale. Most recently, he served as Head of Americas, West Coast for Deutsche Bank Wealth Management, where he oversaw all aspects of the firm's business across the region and held seats on both the International Private Bank executive committee and the Americas Crisis Management Committee. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Chris was a Managing Director and Regional Investment Executive at U.S. Trust, a division of Bank of America, where he managed six offices and a team of 40 professionals. Chris also held CFO and COO roles at Mearisland Capital and Mont Pelerin Capital, and led alternative investment marketing and asset allocation at Bank of America’s Alternative Investment group, helping grow the alternatives business from $100 million in seed capital to more than $3.3 billion in AUM in under three years.
Across his career, Chris has overseen the management of more than $16 billion in assets and has developed deep expertise in fund structuring, regulatory compliance, and capital formation across both traditional and alternative investment strategies. He is a regular speaker at industry conferences and events, a frequent voice in financial press and forums, and a recognized thought-leader on the intersection of AI and wealth management.
Chris holds a B.S. in Economics with financial applications from Southern Methodist University, where he later served on the board. In 2010, he was recruited by hedge fund and alternative investment industry leaders to found the California Hedge Fund Association, known as CalALTS, where he served as founding president and Chairman for nearly a decade. He has held leadership roles with Hedge Funds Care, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation, and served as director of the Children's Hospital of Orange County Foundation (CHOC).