Korn Ferry | LA28 Sponsor Research

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Korn Ferry became the seventh and most recent Founding Partner of LA28 in January 2026, serving as the Official Talent & Organizational Consulting Partner for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Team USA. The partnership is structurally distinct from every other Founding Partner deal: rather than paying primarily for brand exposure, Korn Ferry is embedding its core consulting capabilities directly into Games operations, hiring, developing, and managing the nearly 5,000-person workforce needed to deliver the LA28 Games.

This is an unconventional sports sponsorship. Korn Ferry is a global organizational consulting firm, not a consumer brand. With approximately $2.8 billion in annual revenue, it is the smallest company by revenue among LA28's Founding Partners. The partnership is less about reaching mass audiences through Olympic marks and more about demonstrating Korn Ferry's capabilities on the world's largest operational stage. If successful, it creates a powerful case study for the firm's talent, leadership, and organizational design services.

Korn Ferry's LA28 role extends the firm's sports strategy: it has previously worked with the PGA Tour (as title sponsor of the Korn Ferry Tour, professional golf's developmental circuit) and various professional sports organizations on leadership and talent consulting. CEO Gary Burnison has positioned the partnership as an opportunity to "spotlight the workers who make those feats of strength and skill possible."

1. OLYMPIC HISTORY & MARKETING PRESENCE

1.1 Partnership Timeline & Evolution

Korn Ferry has no prior Olympic sponsorship history. The January 2026 announcement represents the company's first direct involvement with the Olympic and Paralympic movement.

Sports Partnership Context

Korn Ferry Tour (PGA Tour): Korn Ferry has served as the title sponsor of the PGA Tour's developmental tour (formerly the Web.com Tour) since 2019. This partnership positions Korn Ferry in the talent development space within professional golf, providing a conceptual bridge to the Olympic partnership.
Professional Sports Consulting: Korn Ferry has provided leadership, organizational, and talent consulting services to various professional sports organizations, though specific client engagements are typically confidential.

1.2 Milano Cortina 2026

No Milano Cortina 2026 activation identified. Korn Ferry's partnership was announced in January 2026, and the company has stated its activation will "start to truly heat up after the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina." The Winter Games serve as a gathering point for inspiration before ramping up LA28 workforce recruitment.

1.3 Signature Programs

All Olympic programs are new as of the January 2026 announcement:

LA28 Workforce Recruitment & Onboarding: Korn Ferry will lead the hiring process for the ~5,000 people needed to staff LA28 operations
Leadership Development: Building high-performing teams and cultivating leaders within the organizing committee
Organizational Design: Shaping the structure and culture of the LA28 organization to deliver under "extraordinary pressure"
Team USA Support: Providing talent and organizational consulting to the USOPC

2. LA28-SPECIFIC INITIATIVES

2.1 Announced Plans & Positioning

Workforce Strategy: Korn Ferry is powering the full talent lifecycle for LA28: attraction, hiring, onboarding, development, and performance management for the nearly 5,000-person workforce
Leadership Framework: Building leadership development programs tailored to the unique demands of Games delivery, where a temporary organization must perform at the highest level under compressed timelines
Organizational Culture: Designing the organizational culture and structure to reflect "the spirit of Los Angeles and the Olympics and Paralympics"
Brand Storytelling: Korn Ferry plans to use the partnership to tell stories about the people behind the Games, not just the athletes, but the organizers, volunteers, and operational staff who make the event possible
Team USA Consulting: Organizational consulting support for the USOPC's own leadership and operational teams

LA28 Venue & Workforce Context: The Games will use 40+ competition venues across the LA metro area, with a dual-venue Opening Ceremony shared between the LA Memorial Coliseum and SoFi Stadium (announced May 2025). LA28 will be the first Games since 1948 built entirely on existing infrastructure. The LA28 Volunteer Program, presented by Delta Air Lines, launched in 2026 with monthly Shine LA community activations. Korn Ferry's workforce strategy scope extends to both the paid ~5,000-person organizing committee workforce and the broader 25,000+ volunteer corps. The organizing committee's CEO is Reynold Hoover, a retired three-star Army general, whose leadership style and organizational approach Korn Ferry's framework must support.

2.2 Regulatory/Market Context

Korn Ferry's partnership is the least conventional among the Founding Partners and may face skepticism about brand awareness ROI from a sponsorship perspective. The firm is fundamentally a B2B company: its target audience is C-suite executives and HR leaders, not mass consumers. The Olympic platform gives Korn Ferry reach it would never achieve through traditional B2B marketing channels, but the value proposition depends on converting that visibility into client engagement and pipeline.

The partnership also comes at a time when the consulting industry is navigating AI-driven disruption to talent acquisition, assessment, and organizational design. LA28 provides Korn Ferry an opportunity to demonstrate how its services integrate with AI-powered workforce tools at scale.

3. EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP & DECISION-MAKERS

3.1 C-Suite Leadership

Gary Burnison: Chief Executive Officer since July 2007 (approximately 18.5-year tenure). Joined Korn Ferry in 2002, previously serving as COO and CFO. Under Burnison, Korn Ferry transformed from a pure-play executive search firm into a global organizational consulting company with 10,000+ colleagues. Total compensation: $14.67 million (6.8% salary, 93.2% bonus/equity).
Robert Rozek: Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Corporate Officer

3.2 Olympic Partnership Leadership

Specific individuals leading Korn Ferry's LA28 activation have not been publicly identified beyond CEO Burnison, who has been the public face of the partnership announcement.

3.3 Board Members with Relevant Experience

Korn Ferry's board includes directors with experience across human capital, technology, and global business operations. Specific board-level connections to the Olympic movement have not been publicly highlighted.

4. AGENCY & CREATIVE PARTNERS

4.1 Agency Model

Korn Ferry maintains a relatively modest advertising and marketing presence compared to consumer-facing Founding Partners. As a B2B consulting firm, its marketing relies more on thought leadership, events, and direct client engagement than mass-market advertising.

4.2 Known Agency/Partner Relationships

Korn Ferry's external agency relationships for Olympic-specific creative have not been publicly disclosed. The firm's marketing historically emphasizes: - Thought leadership content (Korn Ferry Institute research) - Executive briefings and events - Industry-specific marketing through vertical practice groups

4.3 Notable Creative Executions

As the most recent Founding Partner (announced January 2026), Korn Ferry has not yet released Olympic-specific creative campaigns. The firm has signaled that its storytelling approach will focus on "the workers who power the Olympic Games," rather than athlete-centric narratives.

5. COMPETITIVE POSITIONING

5.1 Market Share & Competitive Landscape

Korn Ferry is a top-three global organizational consulting and executive search firm, competing with: - Spencer Stuart: Executive search and leadership consulting - Heidrick & Struggles: Executive search and talent management - McKinsey & Company / BCG / Bain: Strategy and organizational consulting (broader scope) - Mercer: HR consulting and talent solutions

Korn Ferry differentiates through its integrated model spanning executive search, talent management, organizational strategy, and interim leadership. The firm's approximately $2.8 billion in annual revenue positions it as a mid-cap company relative to LA28's other Founding Partners. None of these competitors hold Olympic sponsorships. Spencer Stuart and Heidrick & Struggles have worked with individual sports organizations but not at the Olympic partnership level.

Cross-Sponsor Dynamics: Korn Ferry's workforce and leadership role for LA28 creates natural intersections with Deloitte (IOC TOP Partner for management consulting and technology integration) and Guild (Official Partner for education and career mobility). Together, these three companies cover the organizational consulting, workforce development, and talent pipeline for the Games.

5.2 Olympic Sponsorship Differentiation

Korn Ferry is the only professional services firm among LA28's Founding Partners. Deloitte holds a global IOC TOP partnership in management consulting, operating at a higher tier but in a related category. The two companies' Olympic roles are complementary rather than directly competitive: Deloitte focuses on technology integration and strategy; Korn Ferry focuses on workforce development, leadership, and organizational design. Korn Ferry is both a sponsor and a vendor, embedding its services directly into Games delivery.

5.3 Key Brand Messaging

"The People Behind the Games": Positioning Korn Ferry as the firm that builds the organization that delivers the Olympics
Leadership Under Pressure: Using the Games as a demonstration of how organizations are "built, aligned, and equipped to deliver under extraordinary pressure"
Talent as Differentiator: Reinforcing Korn Ferry's core message that the right people, in the right roles, with the right development, determine organizational success

6. KEY METRICS & BUSINESS CONTEXT

6.1 Financial Performance

Q1 FY2026 Revenue: $708.6 million (5% YoY increase)
Q2 FY2026 Revenue: $721.7 million (7% YoY increase)
Annualized Revenue Run Rate: ~$2.8-2.9 billion
Growth Trajectory: Four consecutive quarters of accelerated growth as of Q2 FY2026
Key Revenue Segments: Consulting, Digital, Executive Search & Interim, and RPO & Professional Search

6.2 Olympic Period Performance

No prior Olympic sponsorship performance data. The LA28 Games in 2028 will be Korn Ferry's primary activation, with workforce development activities beginning well in advance of the Games themselves.

APPENDIX: KEY SOURCES

Official Sources

Korn Ferry Press: kornferry.com/about-us/press
Korn Ferry LA28 Partnership Page: kornferry.com/about-us/partnerships/la28-games
LA28 Official Partners: la28.org/en/our-partners.html
BusinessWire Announcement: January 27, 2026

Industry Analysis

PR Daily: "Why Korn Ferry is going all-in on the LA Olympics"
The Sports Examiner: "LA28 signs Korn Ferry as 7th top-tier partner"
SportsMint Media: "Korn Ferry to power workforce and leadership strategy for LA28 Games"

Financial Filings

Korn Ferry Q2 FY2026 Earnings Report
Korn Ferry Q1 FY2026 Earnings Report

End of Research Brief