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Chicago-based Morningstar, a provider of investment research across the globe, has appointed Kathleen Peacock as chief legal officer.

Peacock, who succeeds Pat Maloney, will begin in September. Maloney will retire at the end of the year after six years as legal chief.

Peacock will join Morningstar from the London Stock Exchange Group, where she is data and analytics general counsel.

She has more than two decades in financial services across sales, trading, capital markets, financial markets infrastructure, and data and analytics. 

Prior to the London Stock Exchange Group, Peacock was director at the London-based bank Barclays for almost a decade. Early in her career, she was an associate at London-based law firm Allen & Overy and Singapore law firm Allen & Gledhill.

"Kathleen has a track record that shows she is not only smart and capable, but also a business partner who will contribute beyond her legal and compliance responsibilities," Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor said.

Kapoor added that Peacock's experience across places like Singapore, London and New York will help grow Morningstar's legal and compliance function to match the firm's global growth.

The company, founded in 1984, has 9,500 employees and annual revenue of $1.7 billion.