CHICAGO, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, has been named Chicago's top employer for Generation Y workers by Brill Street, a technology-based firm that helps companies build their workforce. "We're thrilled to be recognized as a superior place for Gen Y employees to work in Chicago," said Joe Mansueto, founder, chairman, and CEO of Morningstar. "Because we often promote from within for our higher-level positions, we work hard to get the right people on board from the start of their careers. We look for bright, inquisitive people who are passionate about our mission of helping investors and who fit into our unique culture." The Morningstar Development Program, a two-year rotational program for recent college graduates, helped Morningstar top the list of Chicago employers. Morningstar was followed by Google, Orbitz Worldwide, Euro RSCG Chicago, and Edelman, among others, in the first year of Brill Street's quantitative and qualitative study exploring areas such as compensation and benefits, perks, corporate social responsibility, advancement potential, training opportunities, and the nature of daily tasks. Firms with at least 10% of their workforce composed of Generation Y, defined for the purposes of the study as employees aged 28 years or younger, were eligible for consideration. Brill Street evaluated 50 finalists on a point-based scale developed by GfK Custom North America, a leading global marketing research agency, to determine the winner. "Given the importance of training and educational programs for Generation Y, Brill Street was impressed by the Morningstar Development Program," said Brill Street + Company CEO Joe Dwyer. "It's a stand-out program for entry-level college graduates designed to expose participants to different parts of the organization and develop their talents and interests. We can see why the program is so attractive to Generation Y, a group defined by their curiosity and ambition." Joe Mansueto founded Morningstar in 1984 in his one-bedroom apartment in Lincoln Park. Since then, the company has developed into a global organization with 2,500 employees around the world. To view the full rankings and each nominated company's profile, please visit http://brillstreet.com/p/generationy50/. About Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider or independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of Internet, software, and print-based products and services for individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar provides data on nearly 325,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 4 million equities, indexes, future, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. The company has operations in 20 countries and minority ownership positions in companies based on two other countries. ©2009 Morningstar Inc. All rights reserved. MORN-C Media Contact: Carling Spelhaug, 312-696-6150 or DATASOURCE: Morningstar, Inc. CONTACT: Carling Spelhaug of Morningstar, Inc., +1-312-696-6150, Web Site: http://www.morningstar.com/ http://brillstreet.com/p/generationy50

Copyright