Johannes is the executive director of Fairventures Worldwide, a German non-profit development and consultancy organization focusing on Forest Landscape Restoration and the value chain of lightwood. Johannes started his career as a carpenter and progressed to Mastery level in this discipline. He worked in this capacity in a number of companies and taught carpentry in Germany, Peru and Kalimantan, Indonesia. During his time in Indonesia (1997 – 2004), he discovered his interest in value chains and transitioned into the development sector, working at the time for Swisscontact Foundation on a value chain program for cashew nuts. After his subsequent return to Germany, he founded a daughter of said organization under the name Swisscontact Germany, which later became independent as Fairventures Worldwide. He spearheaded the development of a highly innovative value chain concept for the Indonesian timber processing sector and one of the leading voices in FLR debate in Germany. Johannes has long years of experience as a consultant in the timber sector and holds an MBA from Henley Business School. Since 2018, he is also executive director of Fairventures Enterprise, a commercial comapny aiming to implement scaled-up Forest Landscape Restoration concepts.