Jan Walotek has 24 years of experience in sustainable forest management, which he gained in 15 countries. His focus is mainly on Central and Eastern Europe and South America, but also on Lusophone Africa. Jan acquired his solid technical knowledge in research and forestry practice as a graduate of the forest sciences degree at the University of Göttingen in Germany. His areas of expertise are forest planning, forest and biomass inventories, forest management, modeling of forest growth, forest information systems including GIS, databases and cadastral systems.

In 2007 Jan became the head of the planning department of a Brazilian forest company that managed over 100,000 hectares of land (natural forest and plantations). Jan's contribution was decisive for the FSC certification of this forest enterprise.

Jan has been the office manager for South America at WaKa - Forest Investment Services AG since 2009. He was stationed in Brazil, worked in numerous missions in Central and South America and supported small and medium-sized forest companies (SMEs) in the management, protection and restoration of natural forests. In addition, he worked in forest assessment and provided services for regional and international development banks. His sovereign duties as a certified forest manager in Brazil also include forest and environmental advice for municipalities.

As project manager for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Mozambique from 2018 to 2021, Jan supported the forest administration in implementing far-reaching reforms in the forest sector.

Jan has been back in Brazil since August 2021 and is back in charge of the South America office for WaKa.