Korn/Ferry CEO Plans to Step Down
* Windle B. Priem, president and chief executive of Los Angeles-based executive recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International, said Tuesday that he has asked the company’s board to form a search committee to address succession planning, including the orderly process of identifying his successor as CEO.
Priem, 63, who has been CEO since 1999, will serve as chairman for a year after a successor is picked to guide the transition. In a statement announcing Priem’s plans, no reason was given for his stepping down.
Korn/Ferry has warned that while revenue growth remains strong, the company’s Internet-based subsidiary will continue to lose money through the current fiscal year. Its stock closed at $21.38, up 13 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. It lost about 45% over the last year.
* Kinko’s Inc. said Tuesday that Joseph Hardin Jr. is stepping down as chief executive. He will be replaced on an interim basis by George Tamke, a principal at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, which owns 41% of the Ventura-based copy center chain of 1,100 locations. “During Hardin’s three-and-a-half-year tenure, Kinko’s moved to the forefront of the online printing revolution by digitally connecting the company’s more than 1,100 branches,” a company statement said. Kinko’s board “determined that new leadership and vision are necessary to fully leverage this new infrastructure investment.”
* Mercury Air Group Inc. of Long Beach has named Mark J. Coleman chief operating officer of the cargo services and aviation petroleum products supplier. Coleman will continue to serve as president of Mercury’s wholly owned subsidiary, RPA Airline Automation Services Inc., a position he has held since January 2000. Coleman replaces J.R. “Butch” Bouchard as the senior executive. Bouchard retired in September 2000 but continues as a consultant for Mercury Air Cargo.
