Morningstar Announces Speakers, Agenda for 28th Annual Investment Conference, June 13-15

CHICAGO, April 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced the agenda for its 28^th annual investment conference for financial advisors being held Monday, June 13, through Wednesday, June 15, at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago.

Michael Hasenstab, executive vice president and chief investment officer, Templeton Global Macro, will open the conference on June 13 with a keynote speech. Actor and comedian Darrell Hammond will provide entertainment at 7 p.m. after the opening reception. Rob Arnott, founder and chairman, Research Affiliates, and Cliff Asness, founder, managing principal, and chief investment officer, AQR Capital Management, will address attendees during the June 14 opening general session. Austan Goolsbee, Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, will give the luncheon keynote speech on June 14. On June 15, William McNabb, chairman and CEO of Vanguard Group, will sit down for a moderated question and answer session.

"We look forward to welcoming some of the investment industry's leading voices to Chicago for three days of advisor-focused dialogue, discussion, and debate," Jeffrey Ptak, CFA, Morningstar's global head of manager research, said. "Prominent portfolio managers, industry experts, and Morningstar analysts will tackle topics including the shifting advice landscape, sustainable investing, the effect of the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule, retirement planning, and more."

General Sessions:

• Practical Advice for an Evolving World: Panelists Bill Bernstein, author and investment expert, Efficient Frontier; Blair duQuesnay, principal and chief investment officer, ThirtyNorth Investments LLC, and Don Phillips, managing director, Morningstar, will explore the rise of passive investing; the mechanization of planning, advice, and investing; the evolving definitions of goals and risk; sustainability; and other market and industry trends, moderated by Christine Benz, Morningstar's director of personal finance. 
• Meeting of the Big Minds—Arnott and Asness: Ben Johnson, Morningstar's director of global ETF research, will lead a wide-ranging discussion about capital-market returns, portfolio construction, risk management, and more with Arnott and Asness.
• Bottom-Up Stock-Picking in a Top-Down World: Janet Yang, Morningstar's global multiasset and alternatives ratings leader, will moderate a discussion with bottom-up, fundamental stock-pickers Keith Lee, president and chief operating officer, Brown Capital Management (and part of the winning team of Morningstar's 2015 U.S. Domestic-Stock Fund Manager of the Year award); Dan O'Keefe, portfolio manager, Artisan Partners; and Meggan Walsh, senior portfolio manager, Invesco, about how they have responded and adapted to a market environment increasingly buffeted by macroeconomic crosswinds.
• Why Sustainable Investing? Why Now? Jon Hale, Morningstar's global head of sustainability research; Hilary Irby, head of Morgan Stanley's Investing with Impact Initiative; and Lisa Woll, CEO, US-SIF, The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, will tackle the investment industry's bullishness on sustainable investing, the latest developments in the field, and how industry giants are addressing the multifaceted, yet increasingly mainstream, investment approach.

June 14 Breakout Sessions

• Bargains Amid the Chaos: Charles de Vaulx, International Value Advisers LLC; Vincent Montemaggiore, Fidelity Investments; and Thyra Zerhusen, Fairpointe Capital, will compare their approaches to identifying bargain investments during the market downturn and where they are investing today.
• High-Yield Bonds at a Crossroads: Fred Hoff, Fidelity Investments; Michael Hong, Wellington Management Company; and Mark Vaselkiv, T. Rowe Price, will discuss the state of the market and the role high-yield bond funds should play in a diversified portfolio.
• Retirement Success for Women: M. Cindy Hounsell, Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement, and Mark Miller, columnist for Reuters, Morningstar, and WealthManagement.com, will outline women's financial challenges in retirement and highlight smart strategies for goal-setting and portfolio construction.
• Manager Research Analysts' Best Ideas: Morningstar manager research analysts Leo Acheson, CFA; Karin Anderson; Kevin McDevitt, CFA; and Katie Reichart, CFA, will cover factors that drive the Morningstar Analyst Rating™ for funds and how advisors can use Analyst Ratings to evaluate funds and generate ideas for their clients.
• Credit, Liquidity, and Rates—Navigating Today's Challenging Bond Markets: Carl Eichstaedt, Western Asset Management; Rick Rieder, BlackRock; and Mihir Worah, PIMCO, will confront the challenges in today's bond market and share their views on where they are—and are not—finding value.
• Approaches to Sustainable Investing—Incorporating ESG into the Investment Process: Ingrid Dyott, Neuberger Berman; Lynne Ford, Calvert Investments; and Karina Funk, Brown Advisory Funds, will examine the ways portfolio managers incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria into their investment process.
• The Fiduciary Rule and the Future of the Industry: Morningstar's Tricia Rothschild, Anthony Serhan, and Michael Wong will discuss the likely impact of the U.S. Department of Labor's fiduciary rule, drawing on Morningstar research and lessons from overseas markets that have already implemented a fiduciary rule.
• Risk Tolerance is Broken—Manage the Psychology of Risk, Don't Avoid It: Morningstar's Steve Wendel will explain how behavioral science offers a way to support investors' long-term goals with ideal investments, while not turning a blind eye to the person's emotions and preferences.
• Striking the Right Balance—How Portfolio Managers Tackle Asset Allocation: Ebrahim Busheri, Manning & Napier; Matt O'Hara, BlackRock; and Wesley Phoa, American Funds, will discuss how they address various risks when building portfolios, opportunities in the current market, and potential pitfalls to avoid.
• The Promise and Peril of Long-Short Equity Funds: Ric Dillon, Diamond Hill, and Geoffrey Johnson, PIMCO, will tackle a number of pertinent topics related to the potential value of short-selling and hedging, including alpha generation, risk management, and the role of long-short equity funds in investors' portfolios.
• Finding Moats and Value within the Healthcare, Consumer, and Basic Materials Sectors: Morningstar equity research directors Damien Conover, CFA; Adam Fleck, CFA; and Dan Rohr, CFA, will review the competitive analysis on valuation and investment ideas from the healthcare, consumer, and basic materials sectors.
• The Challenges and Opportunities of Goals-Based Investing: Sarah Newcomb, Morningstar behavioral economist and author of Loaded: Money, Psychology, and How to Get Ahead without Leaving Your Values Behind, will offer lessons from behavioral science about how introspection often fails investors and techniques for overcoming obstacles and reaching the right targets.

June 15 Breakout Sessions

• Ultimate Stock-Pickers: Michael Keller, Brown Brothers Harriman; Dennis Lynch, Morgan Stanley Investment Management; and Stephen Yacktman, Yacktman Funds, will share their favorite investment ideas from around the world.
• Active Management 2.0: Marlena Lee, Dimensional Fund Advisors, and Rob Nestor, BlackRock will debate the merits of strategic-beta investments, how to vet these strategies, and the broader implications of their surging popularity.
• Good International Managers with Capacity: Experienced international stock-pickers Rupal Bhansali, Ariel Investments; Jonathan Bloom, Fiduciary Management Inc.; and Andrew Foster, Seafarer Capital Partners, will familiarize attendees with their strategies for selecting non-U.S. stocks.
• Retirement Planning Assumptions Revisited: Morningstar's David Blanchett and Cornerstone Wealth Advisors' Jonathan Guyton will discuss sustainable retirement withdrawal rates and whether to embed more conservative return assumptions into retirees' plans amid current market conditions.

Preconference Sessions
Morningstar also offers free preconference sessions for registered attendees from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Central Time on June 13 at McCormick Place. There are three tracks comprising three different sessions each. Participants may attend one track in its entirety or different sessions within multiple tracks:

• "Generating Ideas" will highlight the best investment ideas from Morningstar experts, including equity analysts, manager research analysts, and other investment specialists.
• "Using Morningstar Research in Your Practice" will educate advisors about how to use the Morningstar® Portfolio Sustainability Score™, the Morningstar Analyst Rating, and the Morningstar Equity Risk Model in their practices. 
• "The Business of Your Practice—Ideas and Insights on Welcoming the Future Today" will feature top advisors, industry leaders, and innovative technology providers and offer ideas to help advisors set up their practices to capitalize on the latest technological developments and industry trends.  

Registration Information
The Morningstar Investment Conference costs $850 per person, which includes the preconference sessions, two breakfasts, two lunches, and two receptions. Advisors can register online at http://global.morningstar.com/MICUS or by calling +1 866-839-9729.

More information about the Morningstar Investment Conference, including the full agenda, hotel accommodations, and continuing-education credits, is available at http://global.morningstar.com/MICUS. Conference updates are also available on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MstarAdvisor or through the conference hashtag, #MICUS.

News Media Registration Information
Full-time members of the news media may receive complimentary registration to the Morningstar Investment Conference. To register, visit http://global.morningstar.com/mediaregistration or contact Carling Spelhaug at +1 312-696-6150 or [email protected]. 

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 individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. Morningstar provides data on more than 510,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 17 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $180 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Dec. 31, 2015. The company has operations in 27 countries.

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Media Contacts:
Carling Spelhaug, +1 312-696-6150 or [email protected]

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