Potter leaves Morningstar
Morningstarhead of sales Toby Potter will leave the research house after submitting his resignation, effective immediately, which came at the end of a review of its business services unit.
Potter joined Morningstar from Ausmaq in January of last year to head up the business services unit and at the time of joining his role was newly created to accommodate his addition to the group, which also included a place on the five member executive team.
Morningstar chief executive Graham Rich says it is unlikely Potter will be replaced on the executive team or as head of the business services unit.
“It is unlikely we will have a single head of sales as the whole area of business services and relationship management has been recut with some functions moved into the publishing side of the business,” Rich says.
Morningstar says it has been undergoing a review of each of its five business units to prepare for future business growth. The review of the business services unit was the third stage and began in late July with Morningstar stating its aim was “to ensure we have the best sales and relationship management resources and processes going forward”.
Rich says Potter’s resignation was not the result of a falling out but rather a change in the role held by Potter was the driver behind his decision to leave.
As a result of the review, Morningstar will add three new business development staff in a bid, according to the research house, to deal with planned growth through new products and ongoing support to subscribers. So far it has expanded its Sydney staff numbers from 20 to 50 since the start of the year.
The first two stages of the review resulted in the addition of new staff to Morningstar with Ross Weavers set to manage Morningstar's New Zealand operations which had been run from Australia.
Daisy Chee also joined the group as head of research and is involved with the company’s qualitative research, ratings and content for portfolio construction research.
The remaining units, product development and technology had already been reviewed earlier this year and would not be examined again Rich says.
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