CHICAGO, Jan. 24, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (Nasdaq:HSII), the leadership advisory firm providing executive search and leadership consulting services worldwide, today announced two key new hires within its Leadership Consulting Practice.

Carolyn Vavrek joins the practice as partner in the firm's San Francisco office. Ms. Vavrek comes to Heidrick & Struggles from Deloitte Consulting where she served as the Human Capital West Coast M&A Practice Leader and HR Service Delivery Leader. She has over nineteen years of diverse corporate and consulting experience in the fields of Human Resources and Mergers & Acquisitions. Prior to Deloitte, Ms. Vavrek was an analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. working directly with investment banking, securities, and other financial service clients. Early on in her career she worked at the law firm of Ballard Spahr.

Michelle Forrest joins the Leadership Consulting Practice as principal, based out of New York City. Most recently, Ms. Forrest was with McKinsey & Company where she served as associate principal working with Fortune 500 senior leaders and Chief HR Officers to develop talent planning and evaluation strategies and processes to boost retention with a particular focus on the Life Sciences market. Her experience prior to McKinsey included time as an intern in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Ms. Vavrek holds a bachelor's degree and graduated cum laude from Penn State and an MBA from the University of California Berkeley. Ms. Forrest earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University and a master's degree from Oxford University Biological Anthropology. She also attended Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, earning a masters in public health and received her juris doctor from Columbia School of Law.

"Both Carolyn and Michelle joining our team underscores our commitment to hiring the best strategic talent professionals," said Rick Greene, Americas Regional Managing Partner, Leadership Consulting. "Heidrick & Struggles is on the cutting edge of the Leadership Advisory market and the addition of top-tier consultants like Carolyn and Michelle emphasizes this point -- they will both be exceptional additions to our team."

Ms. Vavrek and Ms. Forrest are the latest in a series of outstanding consultants who have joined Leadership Consulting since 2009. The list includes Julian McCarthy, a long-time McKinsey Partner, Rusty O'Kelley, who co-founded and led the CEO and Diversity practices at Katzenbach and Michelle Nasir, formerly of McKinsey and Google. The growth of the Leadership Consulting Practice was highlighted in a recent BusinessWeek article about Vice Chairman Stephen Miles.

About Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.

Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (Nasdaq:HSII) is the leadership advisory firm providing senior-level executive search and leadership consulting services, including succession planning, executive assessment and development, talent retention management, transition consulting for newly appointed executives, and M&A human capital integration consulting. For almost 60 years, we have focused on quality service and built strong leadership teams through our relationships with clients and individuals worldwide. Today, Heidrick & Struggles' leadership experts operate from principal business centers in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. For more information about Heidrick & Struggles, please visit www.heidrick.com.

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SOURCE: Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.

CONTACT: Wendi Taylor Nations
+1 (312) 496 1810
wtaylornations@heidrick.com