Morningstar has appointed Scott Brown as President of its Direct Platform business, effective March 2, 2026. In this role, Brown will lead the company’s largest business segment and a central growth engine that includes flagship offerings such as Morningstar Direct, Morningstar Data, and Direct Advisory Suite, the latest evolution of Advisor Workstation, along with embedded manager research and ratings capabilities.
Brown brings more than two decades of experience building and scaling data platforms, modernizing legacy systems, and delivering technology-led and AI-enabled products designed to drive 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.
During his tenure at Experian, Brown advanced the Ascend platform with AI product innovation, including the launch of Ascend Ops, an AI model deployment capability adopted by more than 50 institutions. He also oversaw the introduction of the Credit + Cashflow Score, described as the first combined credit score using consumer-permissioned banking data. Earlier in his career at Nielsen, Brown modernized the company’s flagship audience measurement product line and led its cloud transformation.
At Morningstar, Brown is expected to build on the company’s existing foundation, enhance platform capabilities, and accelerate product innovation across key client segments in asset and wealth management. His experience integrating complex data ecosystems, including combining streaming and television measurement at Nielsen and unifying credit and banking data at Experian, aligns with Morningstar’s strategy to unify public and private market data, analytics, and tools for an AI-enabled marketplace.
Morningstar, headquartered in Chicago, provides independent investment insights across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company serves individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers and owners, retirement plan providers and sponsors, institutional investors in debt and private capital markets, and other partners. As of Dec. 31, 2025, Morningstar reported approximately $378 billion in assets under management or advisement and operates through wholly owned subsidiaries in 32 countries.
KEY QUOTES
“Direct Platform is central to how we empower clients with our unique intellectual property. 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.”
Kunal Kapoor, CEO, Morningstar, Inc.
“Morningstar has a clear mission and a strong foundation of trusted data and independent insights, which is a significant competitive advantage. 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.”
Scott Brown, President, Direct Platform, Morningstar, Inc.
