Schwab Institutional announced today that Patricia Cox has been appointed to become the new chief operations officer, effective immediately.

Cox has led the client service and support organization for Schwab’s retail business, Schwab Investor Services, since 2005. In her new role, she will report to Charles Goldman, executive vice president of Schwab.

“Throughout her career, [Trish] has focused on developing best-in-class business-to-business operations and solutions,” says Goldman. “This, coupled with her most recent experience overseeing support teams in our service centers, makes her an ideal candidate to assume a senior operating position in Schwab Institutional.”

The San Francisco-based company also announced today that Bernie Clark will assume responsibility for the development and delivery of all practice management initiatives through GrowthPoint and all technology consulting at Schwab Performance Technologies. Clark currently serves as head of sales and relationship management at Schwab Institutional.