Dutch born Johannes Valentijn grew up at a family boat yard and completed an education in naval architecture and marine engineering. He started his design career in 1971 at Sparkman and Stephens in New York. He has been the America's Cup designer for 4 major campaigns for foreign and domestic US groups including Dennis Conners Liberty campaign of 1983.
Later he became production and yard manager for Burger Boat Company in Wisconsin, USA.
In the last several years he was involved in developing new organizational structures and optimizing building methods for yacht construction companies in Morocco and France.