Bernard S.

Zen-Ruffinen

Chairman, EMEA

Bernard Zen- Ruffinen is the Chairman of Korn Ferry's Europe Middle East and Africa region. He previously served as the President of Europe Middle East and Africa and Chaired the Global Industrial and Consumer practices.

Mr Zen-Ruffinen brings over fifteen years of line management and CEO experience in Europe and in the Americas. Prior to joining Korn Ferry, he was the Swiss managing partner for another global search firm, a leader of their global supply chain & transportation practice and European head of the board & CEO practice (2000 - 2009). Mr Zen-Ruffinen was also a global account manager for some of the top corporations in the Swiss Market Index (SMI).

Previously, he served as president and chief executive officer of DHL/Danzas Latin America, a company belonging to Deutsche Post World Net group. He started his career with Jacobs Suchard and the Klaus Jacobs Group, one of the largest coffee and confectionary companies in Europe in the 1980's. His main leadership role was president and chief executive officer of Brach Van Houten International, based in Chicago and with distribution in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Canada and Europe.

Mr Zen-Ruffinen earned a degree in Political Science from the Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva, Switzerland. In the nineties he was a founding member of Precious Woods (PRWN.SW) and more recently he was a founder of Monarca Coffee Wood, two companies dedicated to counteract the effect of deforestation and global warming.

Mr Zen-Ruffinen is the 2013 recipient of the prestigious AESC European Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Executive Search Profession.

He speaks English, Spanish, French and German fluently.