ManpowerGroup (MAN: NYSE) have announced the appointment of Jonas Prising to the position of Chief Executive Officer, effective from 1 May 2014. Mr Prising is currently ManpowerGroup’s President and Executive Vice President for the Americas and Southern Europe.

Jeffrey Joerres, ManpowerGroup’s current CEO, will transition to the position of Executive Chairman following Mr Prising’s appointment. Mr Joerres commented: “Jonas has successfully led several of ManpowerGroup’s key businesses over his 15 years with the company. He started as the head of our European sales organisation and then built our business in Italy, which is now over USD 1 billion in revenue, while also leading the successful first global rebranding of our company. Most recently, Jonas has served as president and EVP of the Americas and Southern Europe, while leading our global Right Management and ManpowerGroup Solutions businesses.”

"ManpowerGroup has a long tradition of internally developing our CEOs and I am proud that we have someone of Jonas' calibre and expertise to lead the company. Jonas' deep industry knowledge, client first approach, and strategic vision will enable us to continue to grow ManpowerGroup and deliver world class results. Jonas is a true global citizen; a native of Sweden, he has lived in nine countries across Asia, Europe, and North America and speaks five languages.  ManpowerGroup will benefit not only from Jonas' global perspective, but his leadership and passion for our clients, our associates and our people," Mr Joerres added.

The appointment of a European to head the US staffing giant should not come as too much of a surprise given that Europe is the company’s largest region by far. In 2012, annual revenues from southern Europe were $7.3 billion while northern Europe contributed $5.8 billion. This compares to annual revenue of $4.6 billion from the Americas. However, the timing of the announcement did surprise analysts given Mr Joerres is only 54 years old.

The world’s three largest staffing firms, Adecco, ManpowerGroup and Randstad are now all headed by European managers.

Mr Prising, who will become the fourth CEO in ManpowerGroup’s history, stated: “I am honoured and proud to continue to build on the strong foundation that Jeff has established. His strategic vision, thought leadership, innovation, business acumen, and personal leadership have firmly positioned ManpowerGroup as a global leader in our industry. Our company and management team is the strongest it has ever been. I am confident that we will continue to deliver innovation and the results our shareholders, clients and candidates expect."

Jonas Prising was already listed among Staffing Industry Analysts Top 100 most influential people in European staffing list given his role in the development of ManpowerGroup’s European business.

ManpowerGroup also announced the appointment of Darryl Green to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), the first COO appointment in the company’s history. Mr Green will also assume his new role on 1 May 2014, and will report directly to Mr Prising.

The staffing firm made the decision to create a COO role in order to ensure the continuation and acceleration of the company’s operational performance. As COO, Mr Green will have responsibility for ManpowerGroup’s four regions; Americans, Asia Pacific and Middle East, Southern Europe, and Northern Europe.

Jeffrey Joerres commented on the appointment: "Darryl is a strong commercial business leader who will focus on driving growth with the disciplined execution needed to deliver world class performance. Darryl has an exceptional track record of consistently delivering results. This coupled with his deep knowledge of emerging markets and ability to craft sophisticated client solutions will greatly enhance ManpowerGroup's performance and enable us to effectively deliver innovative workforce solutions to our clients." 

Jonas Prising added: “I look forward to working with Darryl and the entire ManpowerGroup leadership team in my new role as CEO. We have an extraordinarily talented team who has worked together closely over the last years to improve our operational performance and we are well positioned for future success.”