Following her stints with the Delegation of the European Union to Belgrade, European Economic and Integration policy unit and Serbian Chamber of Commerce Bureau for the Cooperation with the EU, Jelena was engaged with the European Consulting Group working on project management and business development in accordance with EU tendering procedures. She has been involved in drafting socio-economic overviews, monitoring and assessing the developments in the areas of education, youth, culture, research and employment in Serbia. Her areas of interest also include international economic migration and security, and aid effectiveness. Since 2011 she has been Executive director of Belgrade based Western Balkans Institute. She is also a TEACH team trainer. She is Quality Assurance expert in various EU funded projects. As a trained expert in European Affairs, Jelena holds MA in European Studies (European International Politics track) from Maastricht University, the Netherlands, and a HE Diploma with distinction in International Economics with concentration on European Union and North American Area Studies. She appeared in the Who’s Who annual list of the best students in the U.S.; she was a merit-based undergraduate scholarship holder graduating on top of the class and the Royal Netherlands embassy scholarship holder for Master studies. Jelena is a PMI certified project manager. Jelena is a proficient user of English language, and an independent user of French and Spanish. Her native language is Serbian.