Korn Ferry and The Rockefeller Foundation Launch New Effort to Advance Women’s Leadership in the Fortune 500

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- Effort will leverage Korn Ferry’s leadership development framework, intellectual property, and executive network to support The Rockefeller Foundation’s goal of 100 women CEOs in the Fortune 500 by 2025 -

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY), the preeminent global people and organizational advisory firm, today announced it has joined The Rockefeller Foundation’s “100x25” campaign, a multi-faceted effort uniting organizations to help achieve the goal of advancing 100 women to the top role at Fortune 500 companies by 2025.

The goal of this work with Korn Ferry is to develop a nuanced understanding of the common strengths and areas of development that companies should focus on to build robust pipelines of high-potential women, and create customized organizational and development programs for women that companies of all sizes can implement immediately.

Specifically, Korn Ferry will:

  • Leverage its executive network to conduct interviews and psychometric assessments with more than 35 current and recent female CEOs to identify the unique competencies, experiences, traits, and drivers that have made them successful.
  • Synthesize learnings from these interviews with existing Korn Ferry data on over four million executives, and findings from an analysis of high-potential female executives in the pipeline of 5-10 beta Fortune 500s into a publicly shared report.
  • Test resulting insights with the group of beta companies to improve their culture and landscape of talent, or enhance organizational programs to foster support, development, and promotion of women into executive roles.

“We are proud to welcome Korn Ferry to the 100x25 campaign, leveraging their deep expertise to develop market-driven solutions to tackle the stubborn challenge of ensuring greater gender diversity in corporate America,” said Judith Rodin, president of The Rockefeller Foundation. “As a leading global talent advisory firm, Korn Ferry has the ability to move companies toward evidence-based practices and programs that support development and a more inclusive pipeline of women leaders. Together, we will build an actionable roadmap for companies that have set gender equity goals, but struggle to implement them from the entry-level to the C-suite.”

A team of Korn Ferry’s foremost experts in areas including CEO succession planning, assessment, development, research, marketing, and organizational effectiveness will work with the Foundation to achieve the goal of 100x25.

“For several decades, there has been talk about gender equity in top leadership roles. In reality, we have reached a plateau. It has been difficult to shift from the stated desire of companies to have more women in leadership positions to tactical delivery that will ensure women are in the talent pipeline,” said Jane Edison Stevenson, vice chairman, Board & CEO Services for Korn Ferry.

“We are thrilled to work with The Rockefeller Foundation to create an avenue to change outcomes and make these ideals a reality," added Stevenson. "We commend The Rockefeller Foundation for initiating such a bold program, one with the potential for such significant and long-lasting positive societal impact.”

The 100×25 campaign is part of The Rockefeller Foundation’s inclusive economies portfolio, which is made up of initiatives that aim to create more opportunities for more people around the world regardless of their age, gender, or economic background.

Business leaders and companies interested in getting involved can learn more about the 100×25 campaign by visiting rockefellerfoundation.org/100×25 or by joining the conversation #100×25.

About Korn Ferry

Korn Ferry is the preeminent global people and organizational advisory firm. We help leaders, organizations, and societies succeed by releasing the full power and potential of people. Our nearly 7,000 colleagues deliver services through our Executive Search, Hay Group and Futurestep divisions. Visit kornferry.com for more information.

About The Rockefeller Foundation

For more than 100 years, The Rockefeller Foundation’s mission has been to promote the well-being of humanity throughout the world. Today, The Rockefeller Foundation pursues this mission through dual goals: advancing inclusive economies that expand opportunities for more broadly shared prosperity, and building resilience by helping people, communities and institutions prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses. To achieve these goals, The Rockefeller Foundation works at the intersection of four focus areas—advance health, revalue ecosystems, secure livelihoods, and transform cities—to address the root causes of emerging challenges and create systemic change. Together with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation strives to catalyze and scale transformative innovations, create unlikely partnerships that span sectors, and take risks others cannot—or will not. To learn more, please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org.

Global Strategy Group
Jason Green, 212-392-5278
jgreen@globalstrategygroup.com
or
Korn Ferry
Tracy Kurschner, 612-309-3957
Tracy.Kurschner@kornferry.com

Source: Korn Ferry

Released February 23, 2017