He has served on our board of directors since August 1999. He also serves on the board of directors for Morningstar Japan. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas and a master’s degree from The University of Chicago. 

## Richard Robbins 

Richard Robbins has been our general counsel and corporate sec- retary since August 2005. He is responsible for directing Morningstar’s legal department and managing our relationships with outside counsel. From May 1999 until he joined Morningstar, he was a partner at Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP (now Sidley Austin LLP), which he joined as an associate in August 1991. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a juris doctor degree from The University of Chicago Law School. 

## David W. Williams 

David W. Williams has been one of our managing directors since 2000. He is in charge of design and its application to brand identity, products, communications, and the workplace. He joined us in 1993 and has been instrumental in establishing design as one of our recognized core capabilities. He holds a bachelor’s degree in indus- trial design from The Ohio State University and a master’s degree in fine arts from the Yale University School of Art. 

## Company Information 

We were incorporated in Illinois on May 16, 1984. Our corporate headquarters are located at 22 West Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602. 

We maintain a website at http://corporate.morningstar.com . Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to any of these documents are available free of charge on this site as soon as reasonably practicable after the reports are filed with or furnished to the SEC. We also post quarterly press releases on our financial results and other documents containing additional information related to our company on this site. We provide this website and the information contained in or connected to it for informational purposes only. That information is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. 

## 1A. Risk Factors 

You should carefully consider the risks described below and all of the other information included in this Form 10-K when deciding whether to invest in our common stock or otherwise evaluating our business. If any of the following risks materialize, our business, financial condition, or operating results could suffer. In this case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. 

## Failing to maintain and protect our brand, independence, and reputation may harm our business. Our reputation and business may also be harmed by allegations made about possible conflicts of interest. 

We believe that independence is at the core of our business, and our reputation is our greatest corporate asset. We offer products and services to our institutional clients, which include banks, broker- age firms, insurance companies, mutual fund companies, media outlets, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. Our institutional clients have generated a significant percentage of our consolidated revenue in recent years. We provide ratings, analyst research, and investment recommendations on mutual funds and other investment products offered and securities issued by our institutional clients. 

We also provide investment advisory and investment management services. The fact that our institutional clients pay us for certain products and services, as well as the fact that in some cases we make investment recommendations within the framework of client constraints, may create the perception that our ratings, research, and recommendations are not impartial. 

This perception may undermine the confidence of our customers and potential customers in our reputation as a provider of indepen- dent research. Any such loss of confidence or damage to our repu- tation could hurt our business. 

Any failure to uphold our high ethical standards and ensure that our customers have a consistently positive experience with us (either intentionally or inadvertently) could damage our reputation as an objective, honest, and credible source for investment research and information. 

Our reputation may also be harmed by factors outside of our control, such as news reports about our clients or adverse publicity about certain investment products. 

