Our Team
The People Behind PREP
JoAn Mann, MBA, GPHR
Founder, PREP Advanced Insights
JoAn Mann grew up a middle child in the middle of the country, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She studied abroad in Mexico as a pre-teen, toured with the Dance Theater of the Hemispheres, spent an exchange year in Austria, and earned a scholarship to West Germany. That pattern never stopped—her career has spanned people-focused work with businesses and universities across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia.
She became a high school German teacher, then directed a university career development and placement center at Iowa State, earned an MBA emphasizing HR and statistics, and earned GPHR certification from SHRM. She’s a certified NLP Master Practitioner, Coach, and Trainer. Since 2004, she’s taught Human Resource Management and Intercultural Behavior at Technische Hochschule Deggendorf in Germany.
That cross-cultural foundation shaped PREP from the start—an assessment designed to work across race, religion, ethnicity, culture, gender, and age. That expertise now supports a growing network of PREP-certified coaches worldwide.
At the root of JoAn’s interest in understanding people lies personal experience. Physical disabilities as a child and teenager taught her what it felt like to be discounted and underestimated—and what it looks like when people assume they understand someone they haven’t taken the time to see. That perspective runs through everything PREP was built to do: help people see each other as they actually are, not as they’re assumed to be.
PREP as Family
PREP became JoAn’s first “baby.” Her two sons grew up alongside it—part of the practical research team from the start. Many of today’s clients are second-generation PREP users, children of the professionals who first adopted the system decades ago.
That’s why JoAn calls PREP clients “family.”
Forty Years and Counting
PREP is now 40 years strong—relaunching to help people everywhere, at nearly any age, identify their character and current resilience. The mission remains the same: straightforward insights that help people communicate, make choices aligned with their strengths, and live with better balance.
Welcome.
Alex Mann
Vice President
Alex Mann has spent over a decade building athletes and programs. As Head Coach at Pocock Rowing Center, he grew the program from 120 athletes to over 200 and led the team to a national championship. As Freshmen Coach at the University of Washington, he developed incoming rowers for varsity competition—athletes who went on to race at the highest levels, including Olympic medalists.
Alex holds a BA in International Political Economy with minors in Religion and Gender Studies from the University of Puget Sound, and completed the yearlong Advanced Certificate in Rowing Leadership from the Institute of Rowing Leadership.
His connection to PREP goes back to 2009, when he interned with the company while still in college. He’s been involved in its growth and development ever since. As Vice President, Alex leads curriculum development, platform strategy, and business development. The same principles that built winning rowing programs—clear communication, understanding individual strengths, and building systems that scale—now shape how PREP helps organizations get the most out of their people.
Alex is based in Bend, Oregon, where he recently finished a four-year project building his own home.
Josh Chavez
Lead Software Developer
Josh Chavez is a Software Developer with Bluefire Interactive, based in the greater Seattle area. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Eastern Washington University (2016) and brings over a decade of development experience across C#, Python, Java, JavaScript, Azure, AWS, and SQL. His expertise centers on backend optimization and database management—improving performance, reducing costs, and streamlining systems.
Josh has led PREP’s full platform relaunch, the first major technical overhaul since 2009. His versatility, problem-solving ability, and commitment to the mission have been essential to bringing PREP into its next chapter. Beyond the code, he brings a generational perspective that keeps the platform accessible and relevant—helping people of all ages gain the insights they need to communicate better, align with their strengths, and build resilience.
Chris Minney
UX Designer
Chris Minney is a UX designer and researcher with Tif & Gif Creative, based in Friday Harbor, Washington. He brings a holistic approach to design—balancing aesthetics with functionality to create user-centered digital experiences. From logo development to full platform ecosystems, Chris combines innovation with meticulous attention to detail.
Chris joined PREP in 2021 to lead the rebrand following organizational changes at the end of the pre-pandemic era. Selected from a competitive field for his versatility, creativity, and experience across industries and business sizes, he brought exactly the boutique, customer-centric sensibility that PREP has embodied since 1984.
His work has been central to PREP’s 2023 relaunch—translating vision into design, adapting through changing circumstances, and keeping the user experience at the center. Chris bridges generational perspectives on the team, bringing a designer’s listening ear and a collaborative spirit to everything he touches.
When not at his desk, he’s usually at the beach or somewhere out on the Salish Sea.