PARIS, Oct. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN), the world leader in innovative workforce solutions, is pleased to announce that ManpowerGroup President of Southern Europe Francoise Gri was named to Fortune Magazine's prestigious list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in International Business for the eighth year in a row.

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Up eight spots from last year, she is now listed as No. 31. Gri, also President of Manpower France, took on the additional role of President of Southern Europe earlier this year, due to an exceptional leadership record that enabled ManpowerGroup to strengthen its European operations, the company's largest geographical market.

Gri joins powerful leaders Cynthia Carroll, CEO of Anglo-American, and Gail Kelly, CEO of Westpac, on the Fortune list, which recognizes women who successfully lead businesses, while wielding significant cultural and social influence. Enabling both ManpowerGroup and other organizations to connect today's talent with the right opportunities is fundamental in today's Human Age.    

"Francoise has consistently demonstrated how to use her insight and influence to effectively navigate today's complex regional and global economies in the effort to find opportunities for workers," said ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO Jeffrey A. Joerres. "To be ranked as one of the most powerful women in the world directly speaks to Francoise's success in unleashing the potential of organizations and individuals, a challenging task in today's Human Age. She has taken humanly possible to a whole new level, becoming an incredible role model for women workers and business leaders everywhere."

An advocate for more women leaders in both the public and private sectors, Gri leads ManpowerGroup's engagement with the Women Leaders & Gender Parity Programme Advisory Group of the World Economic Forum. She represented ManpowerGroup, a strategic partner of the Forum, accordingly during the Annual Meeting in Davos earlier this year. Gri also led the company's delegation at the World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia in June, where she was featured as a panelist in a dynamic discussion on solutions to create a flexible and stable labor market in the region. Gri's inscrutable expertise was evident, and even further underscored by her unique perspective, as the only woman on the panel.

Under Gri's leadership, ManpowerGroup Southern Europe now generates more than $8 billion in annual revenues, more than one-third of ManpowerGroup's total revenue. She leads an organization of nearly 7,500 employees, across more than 1,350 offices and serves more than 125,000 clients annually.

Last year, Gri published a book entitled "Pleading for Responsible Employment," in which she recorded the experiences of her employees and clients during the recession. It details lessons she learned from this period, and her analysis of France's jobs market.  

Fortune's full list of the 2011 International Most Powerful Women can be viewed at:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/most-powerful-women/2011/global/index.html

About ManpowerGroup

ManpowerGroup™ (NYSE: MAN), the world leader in innovative workforce solutions, creates and delivers high-impact solutions that enable our clients to achieve their business goals and enhance their competitiveness. With over 60 years of experience, our $22 billion company creates unique time to value through a comprehensive suite of innovative solutions that help clients win in the Human Age. These solutions cover an entire range of talent-driven needs from recruitment and assessment, training and development, and career management, to outsourcing and workforce consulting. ManpowerGroup maintains the world's largest and industry-leading network of nearly 3,900 offices in over 80 countries and territories, generating a dynamic mix of an unmatched global footprint with valuable insight and local expertise to meet the needs of its 400,000 clients per year, across all industry sectors, small and medium-sized enterprises, local, multinational and global companies. By connecting our deep understanding of human potential to the ambitions of clients, ManpowerGroup helps the organizations and individuals we serve achieve more than they imagined — because their success leads to our success. And by creating these powerful connections, we create power that drives organizations forward, accelerates personal success and builds more sustainable communities. We help power the world of work. The ManpowerGroup suite of solutions is offered through ManpowerGroup™ Solutions, Manpower®, Experis™ and Right Management®. Learn more about how the ManpowerGroup can help you win in the Human Age at www.manpowergroup.com.

ManpowerGroup is the most trusted brand in the industry, being the only company in our industry to be named to the Ethisphere Institute's 2011 World's Most Ethical Companies list for our proven commitment to ethical business practices, including an outstanding commitment to ethical leadership, compliance practices and corporate social responsibility. In addition, ManpowerGroup has also been recognized as the industry leader by Fortune magazine, who named the company in first place on its 2011 list of the Most Admired Companies in the temporary help sector.

In January 2011, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, ManpowerGroup announced the world has entered the Human Age, where talent has replaced capital as the key competitive differentiator. Learn more about this new age at www.manpowergroup.com/humanage

Gain access to ManpowerGroup's extensive thought leadership papers, annual Talent Shortage surveys and the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, one of the most trusted indices of employment activity in the world, via the ManpowerGroup World of Work Insight iPad application. This thought leadership app explores the challenges faced by employers navigating the changing world of work and provides in-depth commentary, analysis, insight and advice on strategies for success.  

Follow ManpowerGroup Chairman and CEO Jeff Joerres on Twitter: twitter.com/manpowergroupjj. Joerres is one of only six Fortune 500 CEOs who leverages a Twitter account to get his message out.

SOURCE ManpowerGroup