KornFerry: Celebrating Forty Years

Submitted by Elmira Mikhaylova, Corporate Affairs Director

Anna has a long history with Korn/Ferry, which started in 1994. That year, Anna Koff was approached by K/F Russia, when the company just entered Russia via acquisition of small local company. Anna was interviewed by the head of the office, Jonathan Holmes. Jonathan was admired by all Russian women – K/F Russia associates and clients alike – as a true English gentleman who was smart, handsome and charming. For Russian employees, Korn/Ferry was an organization full of interesting, eccentric and professional people. Russia, for Korn/Ferry, was promising, mysterious and a bit scary. But Korn/Ferry was the first western executive search company to enter the market, a pioneer that established rules and professional benchmarks for the emerging market.

Anna started out as an Associate for K/F Russia. In that role, she grew as an executive search specialist. By 1997, Anna had become a Principal in the Moscow office, specializing in Industrial and FMCG sectors. But in 2001, Anna moved to Heidrick & Struggles. In 2002, both Heidrick and Korn/Ferry decided to close their Moscow offices, so Anna joined Russian executive search company RosExpert as a Senior Partner developing relations with western clients.

In 2004, Korn/Ferry discussed a possible alliance partnership with RosExpert and the following year a contract was signed. When she first heard about the possible partnership, Anna admits that she had mixed feelings. Korn/Ferry, in her opinion, lacked a big picture strategy approach for emerging markets and was way too immersed in Anglo-Saxon culture for local clientele. But when Anna met new Korn/Ferry brass, she realized that the company had changed and their mindset toward new market opportunities was different; this made her feel more confident and optimistic. Since then, more than 170 executive search and LTC projects have been executed for western and Russian clients and we have become real partners.

We would be remiss as Russians if we did not include a metaphor. In both Russian and English, we can refer to the famous Heraclitus quote: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” Korn/Ferry is a river that changes always, becomes wider and faster. The company has become more global and innovative, while also paying more attention to local details. The Firm is different. And the people who are there, new and old, change too.