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Korn Ferry

kfy · NYSE Industrials
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Ticker kfy
Exchange NYSE
Sector Industrials
Industry Staffing & Employment Services
Employees 5001-10,000
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FY2009 Annual Report · Korn Ferry
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KORN/FERRY INTERNATIONAL

drives business.

talent 

annual report 2009

Korn/Ferr Y at a glance

#1

in market share
(global and U.S. leader)

$638.2

million in global fee 
revenue in fiscal 2009 

78

offices worldwide

2,100

employees

25% 

of revenue derived from 
non-search offerings

40

years of client  
excellence

All figures above include Futurestep

an organization’s success is not defined  
by the products it makes or its global  
network of offices. nor is it determined  
by the latest technology or a catchy slogan. 
ultimately, it is talent that drives business. 

Yet demographic shifts, globalization and  
other socioeconomic trends will make  
it increasingly harder for companies to  
find and keep qualified workers. talented  
women and men are the world’s most  
precious natural resource. 

Dear StocKholDer

It has been said that “there can be no spring without winter,” 
and there is no doubt that the past 12 months have tested 
the resolve of nearly every business around the globe.  

In the first quarter of 2009, the Association of Executive 
Search Consultants reported that our industry was down 
almost 40% from the prior year. Despite the drop in demand, 
Korn/Ferry is successfully maneuvering through this historic 
global recession. We moved immediately and decisively  
to align our business against the unprecedented industry 
fall-off, preserving our top-line capacity. 

We believe that great companies  
often make their boldest moves  
during difficult periods.

In March, Kennedy Information, a leading industry analyst, 
reported that Korn/Ferry once again maintained its top  
spot for 2008. In fiscal 2009, we handled 9,200 executive 
search engagements, placing several dozen executives  
into prominent positions at leading organizations each 
working day. 

Beyond being the global leader in executive recruitment, our 
non-search solutions are increasingly being utilized by our 
clients. In fact, our Leadership and Talent Consulting group 
continued to be our best-performing business and finished 
the year with a revenue run-rate of $71 million. 

Lominger, in particular, exemplifies how Korn/Ferry’s strong 
brand gives us permission to pursue as-yet untapped 
opportunities to monetize intellectual property and  
create software as a solutions business model under the 
Korn/Ferry umbrella.

We believe that great companies often make their boldest 
moves during difficult periods and we are moving forward  
with a steadfast focus on preserving the franchise,  
positioning the company for growth and accelerating 
through the economic turn. 

2

Korn/Ferry is transforming — 
a transformation of not only our  
organization, but also of those  
who engage us to find and  
develop the very best people  
in their respective industries.

Korn/Ferry continues to pursue a more diversified vision:  
to be the premier global provider of talent management 
solutions. We believe that the long-term demographic trends 
impacting the majority of mature Western economies,  
along with the complex talent-related issues facing emerging 
markets, will create sizeable opportunities for our Firm.

By continuing to build and acquire solutions that differentiate 
our executive recruitment business, we are becoming even 
more consultative. This strategy will not only fuel above- 
average growth in our flagship business, but due to the 
long-term nature of our non-search engagements, provide us 
with greater operating flexibility in different economic cycles. 

Today’s Korn/Ferry is helping leading organizations not only 
find great talent, but also assist them in the ongoing develop-
ment and retention of their workforces. Acceptance of our 
approach is being validated by our clients as Korn/Ferry’s 
non-search solutions now represent a full quarter of our 
overall revenue. Executive recruitment and our mid-level  
and outsourced recruitment offering, Futurestep, provide 
significant gateways to our leadership and talent consulting 
solutions. Additionally, we have gone to great lengths to 
embed our unique science and intellectual property into  
our recruitment processes. 

Through Lore International, we now have the capability to 
create customized executive education and talent development 
systems for our clients. These ongoing programs are woven 
into the company’s culture and focus on providing employees 
with career-long professional development. 

We are also helping clients manage other facets of the talent 
management process, from workforce planning to employ-
ment branding, organizational design and talent systems. We 
are now recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities 
on the alignment of people, process and technology to a 
client’s business strategy. 

After our fiscal year-end, we acquired Whitehead Mann.  
Not only does Korn/Ferry | Whitehead Mann fortify our leading 
position in both the United Kingdom and France, but it  
acts too as an entrée to our other solutions. With its preemi-
nent brand and deep history of placing the highest  
ranking executives and board directors throughout Europe,  
Korn/Ferry | Whitehead Mann offers us a significant  
opportunity to expand our value proposition to clients and 
assist them with their talent needs beyond recruitment.

From executive recruitment to Futurestep and our wide  
variety of leadership and talent consulting solutions,  
Korn/Ferry is transforming — a transformation of not only  
our organization, but also of those who engage us to  
find and develop the very best people in their respective  
industries. Although the climate remains challenging, these  
are exciting times for Korn/Ferry. 

I would like to thank our board of directors for their continued 
commitment and counsel. In particular, I am grateful to  
Ken Whipple, who has accepted the role of Non Executive 
Chairman, as well as Paul Reilly, our outgoing Chairman,  
for eight years of stewardship with the Firm.

Finally, I would like to extend my thanks to everyone at  
Korn/Ferry. Despite the economic climate of the past  
12 months, and ironically because of it, I have never been 
prouder of our organization. I am grateful to all of our 
colleagues and our leadership team for their tenacious spirit 
and unyielding focus. I am confident that the combination  
of our entrepreneurial attitude along with the seeds of 
change that we have planted over the last several quarters 
will yield great results for Korn/Ferry. Talent does drive 
business and our unique strategy, global reach and world-
class colleagues hold the promise to expand the value we 
provide to our clients and, in turn, secure above-average 
industry growth and returns for our stockholders.

Gary D. Burnison
Chief Executive Officer 

3

a lIFecYcle approach

the distinctive value of a Korn/Ferry partnership  
is that our family of solutions guides organizations 
through all aspects of the talent lifecycle. 

creating a long-term human capital competitive advantage rests  
on the ability to address four fundamental leadership and talent 
management needs — attracting, developing, retaining and  
sustaining key talent. our solutions are aligned to deliver optimal 
value in each of these areas.

CEO and Board Services 

We boast a highly specialized team that focuses exclusively 
on placing CEOs and board directors in organizations  
around the world. Our time-tested process draws on the 
finest skills, experience and insight of our consultants,  
who work discreetly with the board and succession planning 
committee to identify world-class leaders for our clients. 

executive recruitment

All executive recruitment is not alike. Our unique approach  
to evaluating top talent involves seamlessly integrating 
scientific research with our vast practical experience. From 
helping clients to create a competency-based interviewing 
framework for their position, to assessing candidates and 
attracting top executive talent, we offer an unparalleled 
depth of experience, global reach and industry knowledge. 
Providing a more complete view of the candidate than  
is otherwise possible, our proprietary tools are statistically 
proven to generate better results in identifying the right 
person for the position.

4

 
leadership and talent consulting

Korn/Ferry’s Leadership and Talent Consulting services 
address the needs of C-suite and HR executives seeking to 
align critical behaviors, skills and values to the organization 
mission and strategy. 

Strategic and Organizational Alignment Korn/Ferry  
offers solutions for aligning structure, organization and talent  
with business strategy, including Strategic Alignment, 
Organization Structure and Design, Culture Alignment and 
M&A and Post-merger Integration.

Leadership and Executive Development We offer several 
powerful solutions for equipping leaders to optimize 
performance, including Executive Development and  
Coaching, Executive and Leadership Education, Executive 
Onboarding and Senior Team/Board Effectiveness.

Talent and Performance Management Korn/Ferry helps 
clients establish and implement a scalable talent management 
foundation with services such as Succession Planning, 
Competency Modeling, High-potential Engagement and 
Executive Compensation. 

Futurestep

Futurestep provides fully customizable, flexible solutions that 
can help turn talent acquisition into a strategic advantage.

Talent Acquisition and Management Consulting Services 
Futurestep consulting services, combined with the  
industry-leading consulting expertise of The Newman 
Group, a Futurestep company, help organizations align 
people, processes and technology to achieve talent 
management success.

Project-based Recruitment Our proven proprietary 
recruitment methodology delivers seamless, workflow- 
driven talent acquisition strategies that help organizations 
manage multiple hires, quickly and effectively.

Mid-level Recruitment With offices around the world,  
a proprietary global candidate database and domain  
expertise across all major industries, Futurestep takes  
a strategic approach to acquiring mid-level talent. 

Strategic Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) 
Strategic RPO integrates talent acquisition strategy, global 
recruiting resources, competency-based methodologies  
and a flexible service delivery model to enable clients to 
identify, attract and retain top talent.

5

revenue SegmentatIon

In fiscal 2009, we continued to lead and transform our  
industry despite historic global economic challenges. We 
achieved a record 25% of our revenue from non-search  
offerings and continue to diversify our family of solutions.

4

1

6

1

5

1

3

revenue  
by region
global fee revenue  
in fiscal 2009

5

4

revenue  
by industry
global fee revenue  
in fiscal 2009

2

2

3

4

3

2

engagementS  
by function
global assignments  
in fiscal 2009

1. C-level/Senior  
  Management/Board 
2. Marketing 
3. Manufacturing/ 
  Research & Development/ 
  Technology 
4. Human Resources 
5. Finance 

63%
13%

10%
8% 
6%

Excludes Futurestep

1. North America 
2. EMEA 
3. Asia Pacific 
4. Latin America* 

53%
26%
14%
7%

*Includes unconsolidated Mexican subsidiary 

1. Industrial 
2. Financial Services 
3. Consumer 
4. Life Sciences/ 
  Healthcare Provider 
5. Technology 
6. Education/Nonprofit 

Excludes Futurestep

30%
19%
17%

16%
14%
4%

6

BoarD oF DIrectorS

Gary D. Burnison
Chief Executive Officer,
Korn/Ferry International

Ken Whipple (2+)
Non Executive Chairman,
Korn/Ferry International  
Chairman,  
CMS Energy Corporation

James E. Barlett* (1+, 3)
Vice Chairman,
TeleTech Holdings, Inc.

Patti S. Hart* (1, 3+)
Chief Executive Officer  
and President, 
International Game Technology

Edward D. Miller (2)
Former President and
Chief Executive Officer,
AXA Financial, Inc.

Debra J. Perry (1)
Former Senior Managing Director, 
Global Ratings and Research,
Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.

Harry L. You
Executive Vice President, 
Office of the Chairman,
EMC Corporation

Ihno Schneevoigt (2)
Former Management Board Member
and Human Resources Director,
Allianz Versicherungs AG and
Allianz Lebensversicherung AG

Gerhard Schulmeyer (2, 3)
Managing Director,
Gerhard, LLC

(1) Member, Audit Committee
(2)  Member, Compensation &  

Personnel Committee

(3)  Member, Nominating & Corporate  

Governance Committee

*  Financial Expert
+  Denotes Committee Chair

corporate InFormatIon

Stock Listing
Korn/Ferry International common 
stock is traded on the New York Stock 
Exchange under the symbol KFY.

Registrar and Transfer Agent 
For address changes, account 
consolidation, registration changes, 
stock holdings and lost stock 
certificates, please contact:

Annual Meeting
The annual meeting of stockholders 
will be held at 10:00 a.m. PDT, 
September 10, 2009, at:  

Hyatt Regency Century Plaza 
2025 Avenue of the Stars 
Los Angeles, California 90067

Mellon Investor Services 
Shareholder Services 
P.O. Box 3315 
South Hackensack,  
New Jersey 07606 
Domestic: +1 877 889 7584 
International: +1 201 329 8660 
www.melloninvestor.com

Investor Contact
Gregg Kvochak 
+1 310 556 8550

Media Contact
Stephanie Mitchell 
+1 650 508 7465

Korn/Ferry filed its Sarbanes-Oxley Act Section 302 Certifications regarding the quality of the Company’s public disclosure with the Securities 
and Exchange Commission as exhibits to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2009. The Company 
also submitted to the NYSE without qualification the annual certification of its Chief Executive Officer in 2008 to the effect that he was not aware 
of any violation by the Company of the New York Stock Exchange’s corporate governance listing standards.

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our locatIonS WorlDWIDe

1900 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 2600
Los Angeles, California 90067
Tel: +1 310 552 1834
Fax: +1 310 553 6452
www.kornferry.com

europe, mIDDle eaSt  
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