Madrid hosted the 7th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the International Executive Search Federation (IESF), the world’s largest association of independent executive search firms, on September 15th – 18th 2009. The Russian Federation was represented by CONSORT Group, the IESF exclusive partner for Russia/CIS since 2005.

One of the major achievements of the Madrid Conference was Sanford Rose Associates (SRA) joining the IESF global network. Sanford Rose Associates is a large American search network with over 60 offices primarily located throughout the USA. Thus, one of the gaps in the Federation’s network – insufficient coverage of the gigantic US market – has been filled.

During the IESF US partner discussion process, CONSORT was able to recommend SRA– with a light heart – as a highly professional organization, having worked with Sanford on a number of pilot projects in executive search that began prior to the formal acceptance of SRA into the IESF.

Two more strong acquisitions by IESF were partner offices in Pakistan and Mexico. The expanded IESF will now have over 160 offices in 40 countries.

Starting from the Moscow’s AGM in 2006, large client events have been held for the local business community as part of the IESF Conference. In Madrid, a few dozen of CEOs and HR Directors from Spanish and international companies gathered to hear about the developments in major emerging markets - Brazil, Russia, India, and China, and to learn of the investment opportunities in these BRIC countries.

Michael Bogdanov, CONSORT’s Chairman of the Board and IESF Country Manager for Russia/CIS, who has been serving as the IESF Leadership Council’s member and one of its international speakers, delivered a report on the Russian economy.