Top search firms are seeing an unprecedented churn at the senior most levels. As existing top management leave to take on other roles; Korn/Ferry International, Heidrick & Struggles, Russell Reynolds Associates and Transearch are taking on new partners and consultants on board, both from rival firms as well as corporate. For instance, Korn/Ferry has seen an exodus of its top-level executives all through the year. The latest to leave has been Venkat Shastry — who was partner and office managing director (Bangalore) at Korn/Ferry — to become a partner at Heidrick & Struggles. Firoze Patel, senior client partner at Korn/Ferry, has moved on to Russell Reynolds as the MD of their financial services practice. Meanwhile, Anita Belani, managing director at Russell Reynolds Associates, has quit and says she has not yet decided on her future course of action.