Born in Marne, Germany, in 1965, he holds a degree in Biology from the University of Ulm. He is the founder of the NGOs Patuca e.V. (Germany) and, together with his wife Claudia Lagos, the Patuca Association (Honduras), dedicated to the conservation and sustainable development of Patuca National Park. Since 2000, he has led initiatives in risk management, institutional capacity building, and humanitarian disaster response across Latin America, the Caribbean, and globally. He has collaborated with international organizations such as Oxfam and Care, coordinating inter-agency networks from Panama. Since 2015, he has served as the director of the Frankfurt Zoological Society in Peru.