Morningstar Appoints Christopher Davis as Director of Fund Analysis in Canada

TORONTO, Nov. 6, 2012 /CNW/ - Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced the appointment of Christopher Davis as director of fund analysis for Morningstar Canada. He was previously a senior fund analyst in Morningstar's U.S. fund research group.

Davis now leads Morningstar's Toronto-based fund analyst team, which is part of Morningstar's global fund research team of approximately 110 analysts. He is also a member of Morningstar Canada's Investment Committee. Davis is responsible for coordinating the Canadian fund analyst team's fund research and content and the development of data points and tools for Morningstar's software platforms. He reports jointly to Michael Herbst, director of active fund research; and Scott Mackenzie, president and CEO of Morningstar Canada.

"We're pleased to welcome Christopher to the Canadian team. His leadership and experience will contribute to our work in strengthening our unified North American fund research effort," Mackenzie said. "Our goal is to help investors make more informed investment decisions by providing independent and objective recommendations on the funds we cover, including open-end mutual funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds, segregated funds, and fund of funds, and Chris will continue our team's endeavors."

Davis was most recently a senior fund analyst in Morningstar's Chicago office. During his time on the U.S. fund analyst team, he covered some of the largest U.S. fund shops including T. Rowe Price and Fidelity, and he also edited the monthly newsletter, Morningstar Fidelity Fund Family Report. He joined Morningstar in 1999 as a data analyst. He became a fund analyst in 2000 and was promoted to senior analyst in 2009. Davis holds a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Morningstar also promoted Salman Ahmed, CFA, as associate director of fund analysis for Morningstar Canada, reporting to Davis. He was previously a senior fund analyst. Ahmed serves as chair of the 2012 Canadian Investment Awards and represents Morningstar on the Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee. Prior to joining Morningstar, he worked for Mercer's investment consulting group. Ahmed holds a bachelor's degree in commerce (honours) from Concordia's John Molson School of Business.

Globally, Morningstar covers 5,150 funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and provides data on 135,500 mutual fund share classes, 3,800 closed-end funds, and 9,900 ETFs. Morningstar's Canadian fund analyst reports are available on Morningstar.ca, the company's website for Canadian individual investors; Morningstar® Advisor Workstation^TM, a research and investment planning software platform for advisors; and Morningstar Direct^TM, the company's web-based global investment analysis platform for institutional investors.

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 more than 385,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 8 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 registered investment advisor subsidiaries and has approximately $195 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2012. The company has operations in 27 countries.

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SOURCE: Morningstar Research Inc.