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Jeffrey Joerres
CEO of Manpower Inc.
The People CEO
Company Profile
Industry: Staffing and
Outsourcing
Employees: 28,000
Revenues: $17.3B
Market Cap: $4B
32 www.ceoqmagazine.com | Q4 / 2010
CEO Awards
Most Respected CEOs
Jeffrey Joerres
Manpower
CEO Achievements
In 2008, Manpower celebrated its
60th anniversary. Considering the
average multinational company lasts
between 40 and 50 years, this is a
major achievement to the executives
that built and led the company.
Despite the global recession,
Manpower operating cash flow
continues to be strong, at $414
million, ending 2009 with $1 billion
in cash. Manpower is the world
leader in RPO (recruitment process
outsourcing).
As the CEO, Jeff has led a
transformation of Manpower’s
business strategy, adding new
business lines that have expanded
the company’s ability to assist
clients and candidates in navigating
the changing world of work. His role
at Manpower has seen him advising
domestic and foreign government
officials about how to transform their
labor markets to compete in the
global economy. Under Jeff’s tenure,
Manpower has experienced rapid
growth, expanding the footprint of
the organization to 4,100 offices
across 82 countries and territories.
His achievements for the company
have seen Manpower share value
more than triple, and the company
has climbed the ranks of the Fortune
500 American companies list,
moving from 183 to 119 in 2009.
Jeff is a strong proponent of job
training and workforce development
initiatives.
CEO Bio
Jeffrey A. Joerres is Chairman and
CEO of Manpower Inc. Having joined
Manpower in 1993, Jeff served as
Vice President of Marketing, and
later, as Senior Vice President of
European Operations and Global
Account Management. It was in 1999
that he was promoted to President
and CEO, and in 2001 that he was
named Chairman of the Board.
Outside of the company, he
serves on the board of trustees
for the Committee for Economic
Development (CED), and is co-chair
of the CEO Diversity Committee of
the Greater Milwaukee Committee.
In addition, Jeff was the 2008 Cochair
at the World Economic Forum
India Economic Summit.
Prior to joining Manpower, Jeff held
the position of Vice President of
Sales and Marketing for ARI Network
Services, a publicly held, high-tech
electronic data interchange company. He has also
held several management positions within IBM.
In addition to the Manpower’s board, Jeff is a member
of the board of directors of Artisan Funds, Federal
Reserve Bank of Chicago, Johnson Controls and
the U.S. Council for International Business (USCIB).
He is also a 2008 Woodrow Wilson International
Award Recipient for Corporate Citizenship; Featured
Second Life Thought Leader in 2009 Evolution of the
Virtual Workforce; Featured Panelist in 2009 U.S.
Secretary of Education Initiative for Advancement of
Technical Colleges to Address Trade Skills Gap.
Jeff has a bachelor’s degree from Marquette
University’s College of Business Administration,
from which he graduated in 1983.
CEO Leadership
“Jeff’s leadership style is rooted in role
modeling. He conducts himself the way
he expects his employees to behave –
as true ambassadors for the Manpower
group of companies with a passion
for people and the role of work in their
lives. He is relentless in his pursuit of
the company’s goals – providing our
clients with the best possible talent - but
knows how to balance cost reduction
with investment. Jeff has motivated the
whole organization to get behind what
we are trying to achieve.” VP of Human
Resources
CEO Insights
It is critical to get out of your office and
meet people face to face. You have to
stay connected with your people so
that you know where the challenges lie
within your organization. The imperial
CEO belongs to a bygone age - in the
contemporary world of work, CEOs are
here to serve, not to be served, and
management is all about flexibility and
agility. Being solution-oriented is a big
part of being a leader - it’s a tremendous
leadership quality
Talent mismatch is a global problem, but
it is more acute at the mid- to higher-level
skills
To foster job creation, one of the groups
that initiatives should be targeted at is
potential new business owners. New
small business owners will drive longterm
job creation in this country, and
skilled trade workers can potentially own
their own business and have three or
four employees within a few years
The [regulation] is hindering one of our
greatest sources of innovation by having
too low a limit on the number of nonimmigrant
(H1B) visas. We are preventing
the brightest minds from entering the
country, which is nonsense given that
the growth of this country came from
people who arrived here from overseas
with an idea, developed it and created
employment. Two thirds of Silicon Valley
companies were started by people born
outside the U.S. If the brightest minds
cannot come to the U.S., it will be our
loss because there are plenty of other
places like Shanghai, Mumbai, Abu
Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai...[This] harms
our competitiveness on the world stage
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