Company Announcements

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 19, 2026-- Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investing insights, has appointed Scott Brown as President, Direct Platform, effective March 2, 2026. Brown will lead Morningstar’s largest business segment and a core growth engine, with flagship products such as Morningstar Direct, Morningstar Data, and Direct Advisory Suite (the latest evolution of Advisor Workstation) and capabilities such as manager research and ratings embedded within it.

Brown brings more than two decades of experience building and scaling data platforms, modernizing legacy systems, and delivering technology-led and AI‑enabled products that support growth and operational excellence. He joins Morningstar from Experian, where he led a multi-billion-dollar portfolio across the Financial Services & Data and Marketing Services divisions, delivering technology-enabled growth.

While at Experian, Brown advanced the Ascend platform with AI product innovation, including the launch of Ascend Ops, an AI model deployment capability that was quickly adopted by over 50 institutions. He also oversaw the introduction of the Credit + Cashflow Score, the first combined credit score using consumer-permissioned banking data. Earlier in his career at Nielsen, he modernized its flagship audience measurement product line and spearheaded its cloud transformation.

“Direct Platform is central to how we empower clients with our unique intellectual property,” said Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor. “Scott has repeatedly scaled large data businesses, unified platforms, and built great products that translate into real client value. I expect his appointment to strengthen our ability to innovate at a time when demand for data and research content is surging, and as we grow our offerings to help investors navigate the increased choice and opportunities they face.”

At Morningstar, Brown plans to build on the strong foundation in place, advance platform capabilities, and deliver product enhancements faster across key client segments in asset and wealth management. He has a strong track record of unifying complex data ecosystems, including integrating streaming and television measurement at Nielsen and combining credit and banking data at Experian. This experience aligns with Morningstar’s vision to unify public and private market data, analytics, and tools for an AI-enabled marketplace.

“Morningstar has a clear mission and a strong foundation of trusted data and independent insights, which is a significant competitive advantage,” Brown said. “The opportunity is to accelerate how that advantage is delivered through a connected platform, faster product innovation, and AI-enabled capabilities that help clients navigate increasingly complex markets. I'm excited to work alongside the team to execute the vision and scale this business to the next level."

About Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights 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 owners, retirement plan providers and sponsors, institutional investors in the debt and private capital markets, and alliances and redistributors. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $378 billion in AUMA as of Dec. 31, 2025. The Company operates through wholly-owned subsidiaries in 32 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on LinkedIn @Morningstar.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations about future events or future financial performance. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain, and often contain words such as “will,” "future," "goal," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "prospects," "continue," "strategy," "strive," "would," or the negative thereof, and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the events we discuss not to occur or to differ significantly from what we expect. For us, these risks and uncertainties include, among others, risks relating to future plans, innovation, growth, capabilities, product enhancements, strategies and vision.

A more complete description of these risks and uncertainties, among others, can be found in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results and other future events may vary significantly from what we expect. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. You are, however, advised to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects, and about new or additional risks, uncertainties and assumptions in our future filings with the SEC on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K.

©2026 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved.

MORN-C

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Stephanie Lerdall, newsroom@morningstar.com

Source: Morningstar, Inc.