CHICAGO, Oct. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced that Stephane Biehler, 45, is joining Morningstar as chief financial officer, reporting to Joe Mansueto, Morningstar's chairman and chief executive officer.  <br /><br />Biehler has served as chief accounting officer and corporate controller for NYSE Euronext, a global operator of financial markets, since 2007. He will join Morningstar upon completion of the merger between NYSE Euronext and IntercontinentalExchange, which is targeted for Nov. 4.<br /><br />"We're pleased to welcome Stephane to Morningstar," Mansueto said. "His experience at the NYSE and Archipelago, and with global technology and financial services firms, was particularly attractive to us. We look forward to having Stephane on our team."<br /><br />Mansueto added, "As we previously announced, Scott Cooley, who has been our CFO since 2007, is taking a leave of absence for a year to pursue a graduate degree. We look forward to having him return to Morningstar in a research role after he finishes his program."<br /><br />Biehler worked for Archipelago Holdings in Chicago as corporate controller from 2004 to 2006 and joined NYSE Group in 2006 as controller when the firms merged. Among his accomplishments, he helped facilitate the Archipelago IPO a decade ago, as well as the mergers between the NYSE and Archipelago, and NYSE Group and Euronext. He started his career at Deloitte, where he worked for nine years.<br /><br />"I look forward to helping build on the success of Morningstar and its global operations and continuing the pursuit of value creation for clients and shareholders," Biehler said. "My family and I are excited about returning to Chicago, where we previously lived."  <br /><br />Biehler holds a master's degree in international business from the University of Haute-Alsace in France and is a Certified Public Accountant. He is also a dual French and American citizen.<br /><br />About Morningstar, Inc.<br />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 approximately 433,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on nearly 10 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 $166 billion in assets under advisement or management as of June 30, 2013. The company has operations in 27 countries.<br /><br />Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements<br /><br />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 "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," or "continue." 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, general industry conditions and competition, including current global financial uncertainty; the impact of market volatility on revenue from asset-based fees; damage to our reputation resulting from claims made about possible conflicts of interest; liability for any losses that result from an actual or claimed breach of our fiduciary duties; financial services industry consolidation; liability related to the storage of personal information about our users; a prolonged outage of our database and network facilities; challenges faced by our non-U.S. operations; the availability of free or low-cost investment information; and liability and/or damage to our reputation as a result of some of our currently pending litigation. A more complete description of these risks and uncertainties can be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results may vary significantly from what we expected. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events.