Jan Paulsen (born 1935 in Narvik, Norway) was elected President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists on March 1, 1999 , at the age of 65. The election occurred as part of a special meeting of the General Conference Executive Committee.

Pastor Paulsen has been vice-president of the General Conference since 1995. Prior to that he was president of the Trans-European Division from 1983 to 1995. Pastor Paulsen has been a pastor, a departmental leader, a teacher, and a college president.

A native of Norway, Paulsen is the third non-American president of the world Church. He has academic degrees from Andrews University in Michigan and the Evangelical Faculty of the University of Tübingen in Germany.

He is married to Kari Paulsen.