Meet the Team

MindTools – Essential Skills for an Excellent Career

"We're here to help you learn
the simple, practical skills
that will help you to excel,
whatever you choose to do."

James Manktelow
Founder and CEO

James founded MindTools in 1996. Today he leads a global team of experts who, together, help more than 15,000,000 people each year learn "the essential skills for an excellent career".

James has written seven books on leadership, team management and personal productivity: WorkLife: Manage Your Time; WorkLife: Manage Stress; Mind Tools; Stress Tools; Make Time for Success! (written with Namita Anand); How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You; and Team Tools: Build and Lead an Excellent Team (written with Felix Brodbeck and Namita Anand).

Prior to MindTools, James' career spanned marketing, production and project management, business and systems analysis, software development, and consultancy for major clients in many European countries. He has led teams at all corporate levels, and has worked, with others, to build two successful companies.

James earned his MBA at London Business School.

Rachel Thompson
Director, MindTools Club

Rachel joined the MindTools team in 2003, following a successful career in change management consultancy.

In her 16-year consulting career, Rachel worked at Price Waterhouse, Partners for Change and independently; during which time she advised household-name clients in the United States and Europe. She holds university degrees in engineering and business, and she earned her MBA at the prestigious London Business School.

During her career, Rachel has consulted with hundreds of people whose work lives and careers were deeply affected by organizational change. She embraced the mission of helping these people develop and adapt personally, and successfully take on new challenges.

In addition to leading Mind Tools corporate sales team, Rachel manages our members-only area, the MindTools Club. In this role, she continues her personal mission, using her experience and expertise to help Mind Tools members around the world develop their business skills and face the changes and challenges in their lives positively and successfully.

Dianna Podmoroff – Forums Manager

After earning her MBA from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, Canada, Dianna developed and taught business courses, worked as a human resources manager, and ran a successful consulting company, where she wrote four books on human capital management.

Dianna's focus is on helping people thrive within the workplace. From an employer's perspective, this means helping organizations create a working environment in which people's talents and abilities can shine.  For individuals, this means helping them maximize their contribution to their organizations and get the greatest possible satisfaction from their careers.

As well as being an expert contributor to MindTools, Dianna manages the MindTools Club's online forums and, along with the forum team, contributes to and leads the topics discussed. She is also the lead team member for the Bite-Sized Training sessions and the Career Master Program.  

Dianna joined the team in 2006, and lives and works in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada.

Jagmohan Saluja – Customer Services Manager

Jagmohan joined the MindTools team in 2003 following a 20-year career spanning software development, IT management and IT support. He holds a postgraduate qualification in accounting and commerce from the University of Delhi, and he leads our customer services team, based in New Delhi, India.

Tom Hallet – Commissioning Editor

Tom joined the Mind Tools team in 2010, and he manages the content delivery process for all Mind Tools training and development resources.

Tom has a media writing degree from Southampton Solent University in the United Kingdom. He has worked in key roles for UK government bodies such as the National Health Service for their NHS Direct service, where he created and controlled content for their flagship website and interactive TV channel, and managed their launch onto social networking sites.

Other Team Members

Other members of the Mind Tools team – subject experts, journalists, engineers and support people – work hard to help you achieve your objectives, and get the very best from your career.

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