Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> March 21, 2001
JON F. CHAIT, Chairman and Chief Executive of Spring Group Plc, joined
Spring in May 2000 following the acquisition of his wholly owned
company, magenta.com Ltd., a developer of groundbreaking IT recruitment
tools for the Internet that he established in 1999. Previously, Mr.
Chait spent nine years with Manpower Inc., the world's leading temporary
employment services company. Beginning in 1989 as Executive Vice
President, Mr. Chait was elected to the Board of Directors in 1991,
appointed Chief Financial Officer in 1993 and was appointed Executive
Vice President and Managing Director of the International Division in
1995. At Manpower, Mr. Chait oversaw the company's successful
international expansion drive, engineering a global expansion plan that
added more than $1.5 billion to Manpower revenues, an increase of more
than 50%, with operating profits increasing more than 100%. He also
supervised the strong growth of Manpower offices in Europe and in
Southeast Asia, including particularly strong growth in Sweden, Spain,
Italy and Germany. After receiving his law degree in 1975 from UCLA,
where he was an Articles Editor of the Law Review, Mr. Chait practiced
law for 14 years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he specialized in
mergers, acquisitions, and financial restructurings. He was a partner in
the firm of Godfrey & Kahn S.C., which advised Manpower on its legal
affairs. He completed his undergraduate studies at UCLA, where he was
graduated magna cum laude in Political Science in 1972 and was a member
of Phi Beta Kappa, the national academic honor society. Mr. Chait is
also a non-executive director of Marshall & Isley, a bank holding
company, and of Krueger International Inc., a manufacturer of office
furniture Profile
Group?
Mr. Chait: Spring was founded in 1989 and grew by acquisitions between
1989 and when I joined in 2000. At that
