Morningstar Corp. selects new CEO after founder retires

Morningstar Corp. announced its first leadership change in three decades with president and CEO Lee Gordon retiring. Along with celebrating 30 years of solar product leadership, Morningstar is looking forward to its next decade with its founding values, ethics and principles firmly in place as Bill Mellema becomes its next CEO, taking over from the retiring Lee Gordon. Mellema is Morningstar’s present director of product management and will assume the role of leading the employee-owned innovator in solar electronics.

Gordon will stay active in the company as Chairman of its Board of Directors.

“Having co-founded Morningstar 30 years ago and working to build an exceptionally positive employee culture along with a leading industry brand, selecting my successor was one of the most critical decisions in our company’s history,” Gordon said. “After conducting a search which included both internal and external candidates, I’m very pleased to tell customers, friends, users and other stakeholders that the brand they trust will continue to be in trustworthy hands moving forward, with the unanimous vote of confidence in electing Bill Mellema to take my place.”

Mellema’s experience includes over 20 years at Morningstar Corporation in several key roles, including directing the company’s engineering and product management teams along with managing customers, supplier and channel partners and other stakeholders, as well as technical support and projects. He holds a BSEE and MBA degrees from the University of Maryland, College Park.

“Having thrived professionally in the company, I fully appreciate Morningstar’s high impact mission and the fact that the products we develop, sell, and support make a difference all over the world,” Mellema said. “Our entrepreneurial culture means each of us has an outsized opportunity to affect the direction of our brand and company — and, as owners of the business ourselves, we have a high level of commitment and camaraderie that you don’t typically see in other organizations. Lee’s contribution to the solar industry is nothing short of legendary, and I’m grateful for having worked closely with him and dedicated to preserving and growing all that he has built.”

News item from Morningstar Corp.