Morningstar Inc. announced Daniel Needham, CFA, has been appointed president and chief investment officer for the Morningstar Investment Management group, reporting to Joe Mansueto, chairman and chief executive officer for Morningstar Inc., effective Feb. 2. Needham, who served as CIO for the firm's Investment Management group, is currently based in London and will relocate to Morningstar's Chicago headquarters later this year. Thomas Idzorek, CPA, CFA, who has served as president of the Morningstar Investment Management group since 2013, is taking on a new role as head of investment methodology and economic research for Morningstar.

Needham previously served as managing director and CIO for Morningstar Investment Management'sAsia-Pacific operations. He joined the firm when Morningstar acquired Intech Pty Ltd. (now Ibbotson Associates Australia) in 2009, where he served as chief investment officer. Idzorek is expert on strategic and tactical asset allocation.

He joined Morningstar when it acquired Ibbotson Associates in 2006. Jeffrey Ptak, CFA, will become head of global manager research, replacing Scott Burns, who was recently named head of asset management client solutions. Ptak has served as president and chief investment officer of Morningstar Investment Services for the past six years and will transition into his new research role by the end of the first quarter.

Other senior leaders will assume Ptak's day-to-day responsibilities for Morningstar Investment Services, an investment unit that provides managed portfolio services through fee-based, independent financial advisors. Before taking on his current role, Ptak served as Morningstar's director of ETF analysis, editor of Morningstar ETFInvestorSM, and an equity analyst. Rob Pinkerton has been appointed chief marketing officer, a new role for Morningstar, reporting to Mansueto, effective immediately.

Pinkerton joined Morningstar through its June 2014 acquisition of HelloWallet, where he serves as its CMO.