CHICAGO, Aug. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc.
(NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment
research, today announced that William
Harding, CFA, age 37, has been named head of manager
research for the Morningstar Investment Management division. In
this new position, Harding will be responsible for promoting best
practices in investment manager research and selection. Previously,
Harding was director of research for Morningstar Investment
Services (MIS), a registered investment advisor within the
Morningstar Investment Management division. Harding assumes his new
position today reporting to Thomas
Idzorek, chief investment officer and research director for
the Morningstar Investment Management division.
Peng Chen, president of the
Morningstar Investment Management division, said, "Bill is a
talented researcher who has played a key role in developing the
manager-selection process for MIS. We're pleased to recognize
Bill's accomplishments and leverage his knowledge and skill across
our entire Morningstar Investment Management division."
Chen added, "One of Morningstar's key growth strategies is to
become a global leader in fund-of-funds investment management.
We've expanded this practice significantly over the past several
years both organically and through acquisitions. More recently,
we've made significant strides in bringing these businesses and
capabilities together. To that end we've created a global research
department to support the research needs of the Morningstar
Investment Management division as a whole. Within this department,
Bill will help to lead our efforts to unify our manager research
methods into best practices that we can deploy in all of our
products and services around the world."
Harding joined Morningstar in 1999 as a mutual fund analyst and
was named director of research for MIS in 2006. Harding holds a
bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Colorado and a master's degree in
business administration from Loyola University
in Chicago. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst
(CFA) designation.
The Morningstar Investment Management division comprises the
investment advisory subsidiaries of Morningstar, Inc., which
provide investment consulting, retirement advice, and investment
management services to institutions and advisors. In addition to
its U.S.-based subsidiaries—Morningstar Associates, Morningstar
Investment Services, and Ibbotson Associates—the division also
includes other global subsidiaries. Morningstar acquired investment
consulting firm Ibbotson Associates in 2006, Intech Pty Ltd in
Australia in 2009; Old Broad
Street Research Ltd. in the UK in 2010; and Seeds in France in 2010. As of June 30, 2011, through these investment advisory
subsidiaries, Morningstar Investment Management had approximately
$141.5 billion in assets under
advisement for investment consulting, $38.4
billion in assets under advisement and management for
retirement solutions, and $3.0
billion in assets under management in Morningstar Managed
Portfolios. Morningstar Investment Management division has
approximately 250 employees in Chicago, London, Melbourne, Paris, Shenzhen, Sydney, Tokyo, and Toronto.
About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent
investment research in North
America, Europe,
Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of
products and services for individuals, financial advisors, and
institutions. Morningstar provides data on approximately 400,000
investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar
vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 5
million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and
precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury
markets. The company has operations in 26 countries.
©2011 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved.
MORN-C
Media Contact:
Alexa Auerbach, 312-696-6481 or
alexa.auerbach@morningstar.com
SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.