Jean Marc graduated from the University of Liege (Belgium) where he got his MSc in biology and specialised in ecology and wildlife management. He has since devoted his life to wildlife conservation in Africa with a special interest in big, remote and sparsely populated ecosystems. He began his career in 1981 working for FAO and then for EC on the management of the protected areas of Northern Central African Republic. By his work in CAR in the 80's he brought an important contribution to the ban of the Legal Ivory Trade and to put the elephant in Annex 1 of the Washington Convention. He then moved as an independent expert for FZS in Garamba National Park (DRC) and thereafter to Agrer Consulting as a manager in protected areas and national parks in Dja in Cameroon and Odzala-Kokoua in Congo.  He was responsible for the extension of the Odzala-Kokoua National Park. He joined African Parks in 2005.