Korn/Ferry Launches New CEO Succession Service to Drive Sustained Growth Through Leadership

LOS ANGELES, June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY), a premier global provider of talent management solutions, today announced the launch of Korn/Ferry CEO Succession, a new global offering that provides boards and CEOs with an innovative approach to executive succession.

Korn/Ferry CEO Succession was designed through collaboration with a wide range of board clients where Korn/Ferry assisted with the CEO succession process. It identifies and develops future CEOs within the organization in order to systematically enhance the internal leadership bench, while also keeping a close eye on external talent. The process incorporates Korn/Ferry's validated proprietary technology and provides strategies to overcome the most common barriers to effective succession planning.

"Korn/Ferry CEO Succession helps boards with their most important task: driving performance and growth by ensuring that the right leadership is cultivated for the company's short-, mid- and long-term objectives," said Jane Stevenson, vice chairman, Korn/Ferry's Board & CEO Services Practice. "Boards need to move beyond treating succession as a single event focused on CEO replacement and instead make it a way to build generations of new leadership. They need to be thinking two to three CEOs ahead."

Highlights of Korn/Ferry CEO Succession include:

• Directly aligning future CEO criteria with short-, mid- and long-term business strategy.
• Using externally validated, research-based assessment tools to identify high potentials and develop a deep bench of executive talent.  
• Benchmarking internal and external talent against the same validated competency profiles.
• Expanding the pipeline of leadership talent available to the company through on-going mapping of the external marketplace.
• Beyond compliance, delivering succession options that maximize company value and minimize transition disruption.

"Most clients are surprised to learn that they already have five to seven future CEOs inside their company. They just need to discover and develop them," said Peter Thies, Senior Partner, Korn/Ferry Leadership and Talent Consulting and Co-Leader of Korn/Ferry's new succession offering. "Our executive assessment and development tools help boards and CEOs more accurately predict which leaders have the greatest potential for enterprise-wide leadership roles in the future."

About Korn/Ferry International

Korn/Ferry International, with a presence throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is a premier global provider of talent management solutions. Based in Los Angeles, the firm delivers an array of solutions that help clients to attract, deploy, develop and reward their talent. Visit www.kornferry.com for more information on the Korn/Ferry International family of companies, and www.kornferryinstitute.com for thought leadership, intellectual property and research.

SOURCE Korn/Ferry International