Morningstar has named Scott Brown president of its direct platform business, putting a data and AI specialist in charge of the firm’s largest revenue engine as it leans harder into unified public-private market analytics and advisor tools.
Brown, who's stepping into his new role in March, will oversee Morningstar Direct, Morningstar Data and the Direct Advisory Suite, along with embedded capabilities such as manager research and ratings. The role sits at the center of how the firm packages its intellectual property for asset managers, wealth firms, and RIAs.
“Direct Platform is central to how we empower clients with our unique intellectual property,” Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor said in the announcement Thursday, pointing to Brown's record in “[scaling] large data businesses, unified platforms, and [building] great products that translate into real client value.”
Brown joins from Experian, where he ran a multi-billion-dollar portfolio spanning financial services, data and marketing. There, he pushed AI-enabled upgrades to the Ascend platform, including Ascend Ops, an AI model deployment tool that quickly picked up adoption among banks and other institutions. He also oversaw the launch of a combined Credit + Cashflow Score that blends traditional credit measures with consumer-permissioned banking data.
Earlier in his career at Nielsen, Brown led a cloud transformation and modernization of the company’s core audience measurement products, experience that aligns with Morningstar’s effort to unify data sets across public equities, private markets, and hybrid vehicles. Drawing from Pitchbook data, the firm has already built the US Modern Market 100 Index, which combines 90 large public companies with 10 late-stage, venture-backed private firms in a single benchmark aimed partly at advisors and wealth clients.
Last year, Morningstar also introduced a Medalist Rating framework for semiliquid funds, covering vehicles such as interval and tender-offer funds, nontraded REITs, and nontraded business development companies.
A recent survey by BlackRock found more than half of advisors, including three in four from wirehouses, now allocate to private assets. But the average exposure remains modest at roughly 7% of portfolios, with concerns around liquidity and lack of confidence around portfolio construction holding adoption back.
At Morningstar, Brown is expected to accelerate platform development and speed up product delivery for asset and wealth management customers.
“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.”
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