A former fundster-watching leader and 25-year company veteran is returning to a familiar unit to take over, after her predecessor shifted at the publicly traded investment research giant.

Laura Pavlenko Lutton Morningstar Incoming Global Head of Manager Research

Laura Pavlenko Lutton is rejoining Morningstar's manager research arm, this time as global head of manager research, company spokesperson Sarah Wirth told MFWire yesterday in an emailed statement. Lutton, who currently serves as director of ESG product management and risk pillar lead at Morningstar's Sustainalytics, will take on her new role on July 1 and will report to Dan Kemp, chief research and investment officer for the Chicago-based company.

Lutton's promotion comes after Lee Davidson, formerly global director of research services, became chief analytics officer last summer and then expanded that role earlier this year to serve as chief data and analytics officer.

As for Lutton, she is no stranger to Morningstar's fundster watcher arm.

"She has spent most of her career at Morningstar within Manager Research and we are thrilled to welcome her back to lead this iconic team through this exciting next stage of its development," Wirth writes in an emailed statement.

In her new role, Lutton will lead a team that includes more than 130 manager research analysts around the world (as of December 31, 2023, according to M*'s 2023 annual report). Their Medalist Ratings cover more than 412,000 share classes of more than 179,000 ETFs, model portfolios, mutual funds, and SMAs worldwide.

Indeed, prior to joining the Sustainalytics unit in 2022 and prior to taking over asset management solutions in 2019, Lutton led M*'s North American manager research practice for more than three years. Earlier, she served in a variety of other research and analyst roles there, after joining the firm in 1999. She also worked at American Banker and is an alumna of both Northwestern University and Colby College. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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