Mr. Mann, born and raised and living in Lancaster, PA, graduated from Yale College in 1962 with a degree in economics with a minor in civil engineering. He then signed up with the Navy and received his commission as Ensign early the following year. His first assignment was as a staff engineer on the Nuclear Reactors Group commanded by Admiral Rickover. Following that assignment he joined the Seventh fleet and deployed to the Vietnam theatre for the next three years.

Following discharge from the Navy in 1966, he subsequently joined his wife's father's business - a small iron foundry employing about 50 people.

With the vision of building a much larger, more integrated company, Mr. Mann took over as President in 1980 and Donsco today employs about 500 people with sales over $65,000,000. Donsco operates three foundries in Southeastern PA and a large machining operation and two pattern/tooling shop and is arguably the largest integrated pattern/foundry/machining company in North America.

Over the years Mr. Mann has helped start over fifteen companies including three banks, two insurance companies, two software companies, two waste management companies and two internet companies.

During his career he has been deeply interested in the theory of management and whether there was a theory that really worked as a guide to making decisions about organization design, hiring, firing, pay levels and all the questions that face people running a business.

His management guides have been Edwards Deming, Eli Goldratt and Fernando Flores and it wasn't until he was introduced to Elliott Jaques' work that he found what he was searching for.

Active in the local community, Mr. Mann served as a school board member of the School District of Lancaster (12,000 students) and was President of the Board for his last four years. He is the Chairman and founder of the Hourglass Foundation, a local "think tank" that focuses on creating the conditions for improving the quality of life in Lancaster County.