Korn Ferry Adds Former Professional Rugby Player to Sports Practice

October 30, 2017 – Bob Casey, the former CEO and captain of London Irish RFC, has joined the EMEA sports practice at Korn Ferry as a senior client partner. Based in the firm’s Dublin office, Mr. Casey is expected to help expand its sports business, as well as sit across the CEO, board, retail and consumer practices.

Prior to joining Korn Ferry, Mr. Casey led the London Irish RFC, one of the most widely-recognized professional rugby franchises in the U.K. He is a onetime professional rugby player and leader with extensive experience working in high-performance team environments. He has represented Leinster, London Irish, Ireland and the Barbarians. Previously, he was a senior business development manager at a leading waste-to-energy business in England. He has operated at executive and board-levels both in Ireland and internationally.

“We’re immensely pleased that Bob has joined the team at Korn Ferry,” said Richard Sumner, senior client partner in Korn Ferry’s EMEA sports practice. “As former CEO of London Irish, Bob has a unique blend of leadership that is grounded in knowledge of the game and a wealth of business acumen, managing one of Britain’s most successful clubs. His experience and unique set of skills will be of huge value to existing clients, and will help us to continue to differentiate and grow the Korn Ferry Sports practice in EMEA.”

Mr. Casey said this is a consequential period for the field. “The sports sector is going through a period of dramatic change and transformation where the need for leadership and talent is becoming even greater,” he said. “I am delighted to be joining Korn Ferry’s premier sports practice at such an exciting time.”

Led by legendary coach and sports recruiter Jed Hughes, Korn Ferry’s global sports practice provides talent recruitment and leadership development solutions for the world’s leading sports organizations. It provides executive search serves for top national and international intercollegiate and professional sports entities, entertainment and consumer goods organizations.

Growth & Expansion

Recently, Korn Ferry added Chad Astmann as co-head of global asset management. He will be based in the firm’s New York office. With more than 15 years of investment management executive recruitment and organizational consulting experience, Mr. Astmann has placed top leaders in executive leadership, investments, distribution and infrastructure.

Korn Ferry also expanded with the addition of Mark Broer as senior client partner in its global life sciences practice and managing director of pharmaceuticals where he co-leads the global pharmaceutical sector. He works in both the firm’s Zurich and London offices. He joined the firm from Spencer Stuart.

Korn Ferry also announced several key leadership changes in multiple areas, which the company said further positions it for growth and expansion. As the integration of Hay Group is substantially complete, the firm has appointed Mark Arian as this business segment’s new CEO. Mr. Arian was recently recruited from EY, where he served as a managing principal.

May Knight became country managing director for Korn Ferry Hay Group. She is based in the company’s Hong Kong office. Ms. Knight brings 25 years of experience from operational and consulting roles in Asia and Europe. She was previously managing director, financial services, Asia Pacific at Accenture.

To further expand Korn Ferry’s product development and management capability, the firm named Andrew Huddart as president of its global productized services segment. To fully leverage the company’s global products business, Mr. Huddart will report to Byrne Mulrooney, who continues to serve as CEO of Futurestep. Mr. Huddart comes to Korn Ferry from Deloitte Consulting’s human capital group, where he served as managing director.

With its growth in Asia Pacific, Korn Ferry has established a chief operating officer position to provide additional support for the region. Current chief marketing officer and Korn Ferry Institute president Mike Distefano will assume this new role. Mr. Distefano will move to Shanghai from Los Angeles and work closely with Charles Tseng, president of Asia Pacific, to manage and grow the firm’s business in the region.

Korn Ferry has added Patrick Walsh to its global industrial search practice. He will be based in the company’s Minneapolis office. Mr. Walsh joins Korn Ferry from Spencer Stuart, where he was a leader and significant contributor to the firm’s growth in Minneapolis and the industrial market worldwide.

Futurestep launched a new academic healthcare practice. Sarah Taylor, a member of Korn Ferry’s academic healthcare practice, was named managing consultant. The Futurestep practice provides expertise in recruiting faculty, including funded educators, scientists, subspecialist physicians and other critical faculty positions.

Korn Ferry also tapped Andrew Huddart to serve as president, global productized services. Mr. Huddart joined the firm from Deloitte Consulting’s human capital practice, where he was managing director. At Deloitte, Mr. Huddart launched a major new product, BersinOne, delivered double digit revenue growth, rebuilt the senior leadership team and significantly expanded its core research function.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Will Schatz, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media