
Mr David Arkless
Founder & Chairman, Arklight Consulting Former Global President, Corporate & Government Affairs, ManpowerGroup
David Arkless is the former President of Corporate and Government Affairs, ManpowerGroup.
February 2013 saw David return to his previous business of consulting where he is now CEO and Founder of ArkLight Consulting Ltd.
Mr. Arkless is a world-renowned expert on labor market trends and has widespread experience of helping countries to develop their labor market strategies. In 2011, he became Vice President of Ciett, the international confederation of private employment
agencies. He is responsible for governmental and international affairs, and as such has been called to advise the governments of China, Mexico, Vietnam, Serbia and Singapore, as well as to the US Department of State, the European Union
and the cities of Shanghai, Tianjin, Dalian and El Paso/Juarez regarding skills, talent, employment and social policy. In May 2010, he became Vice President of the China International Council for the Promotion of Multinational Corporations
(CICPMC) in Beijing and is an advisor and supporter of the All Party Political Group on East Asia, empowering the Asian diaspora in the UK society and building links between the East Asian and UK business communities.
Mr. Arkless also manages ManpowerGroup’s strategic relationships with high-profile organizations such as the World Economic Forum, where he is one of the founding members of the WEF’s Global Agenda Council on the Skills Gap. He also supports
partnerships with the European Policy Centre and the Clinton Global Initiative, and is an Ambassador for the Centre For Social Justice, an independent think tank based in the UK.
His global areas of social contribution involve, amongst others, being a highly influential campaigner in the fight to end human trafficking and giving refugees real hope for the future through training and work. Mr Arkless is President
of the Board of End Human Trafficking Now, the leading global organization empowering the business community to eradicate human trafficking and modern day slavery, and is Co-Chairman of the Business Coalition Against Trafficking and co-founder
of the Washington Business Ending Slavery and Trafficking organization, launched in the first quarter 2012, a not for profit focusing on mobilizing small to medium sized enterprises against trafficking in the US. He has also been at the
forefront of ManpowerGroup’s involvement in www.ninemillion.org, a UN initiative to provide education to the 9 million young refugees all over the world. Mr. Arkless is also a founding member of the Demand Abolition Advisory Council,
based in the United States.
Additionally, Mr. Arkless serves as an Advisory Board Member of both the International Organization for Migration and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He also serves as a Board Member of Education For
Employment, the pre-eminent US-based foundation that helps unemployed young people and the long-term unemployed in the Middle East and Africa. He is also a board member of the Club of The Hague. In 2011, Mr Arkless joined the advisory
board of PNB-NAPEO a public-private partnership that exists to better link young entrepreneurs and business leaders in the United States and the Maghreb. Earlier this year, he was voted onto the Board of the Arab International Women’s
Forum – an organization empowering women and working on inclusion in the Arab world as well as building bi-lateral business links between the Arab world and British business.
He serves as a regular speaker at high profile events including the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations, European Parliament, UK Parliament &
House of Lords Select Committees, US Congressional and Senate committees, and at various internationally renowned business schools.
Mr Arkless also leads ManpowerGroup’s involvement with the United States Council on Competitiveness and provides regular expert appearances in national and global media such as the BBC, CNBC, and CNN.
Mr Arkless received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Durham, UK and has completed executive programs at INSEAD, IMD, and the San Jose College of Business. Mr Arkless is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London.