Policy Department

Jelena has been engaged in the reform of legislative process and regulatory framework for doing business, investment promotion, business support programs and establishing partnerships between the public and private sectors, as an expert in policy reform and implementation of economic development policies. She started her career in 2000, in the International Republican Institute (IRI) working on the development of political parties, civil society organizations and local governments. After that, she spent five years as the Head of Local Economic Development Team in USAID Municipal Economic Growth Activity program. During that appointment Jelena engaged in the development of more than 50 economic development strategies and institutional capacities for dealing with economic issues in more than 30 local governments. She worked at similar programs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Slovakia, Kyrgyzstan and Jordan. Since 2010, Jelena joined NALED, first as the Program Director and then as Policy Director. For the past 3 years, she served as the technical and expert coordinator of the Government of Serbia Joint Group for improving Serbia’s position on the World Bank’s Doing Business list. Within this engagement, she coordinates the development of Government's Doing Business Reform Plans, leading the correspondence with the World Bank, by preparing reform updates and coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the Plan. During a period of 3 years (until 2017) she was the lead expert in construction permitting reform in Serbia, a reform that was recognized by the World Bank, as the biggest reform in Serbia for the past 10 years. She was the Project Manager for the implementation of the electronic construction permitting system (EBPS) in Serbia (supported by the German and Swiss governments) and led the implementation of the World Bank’s project targeted at training and mentoring of the EBPS users. In 2017 she was the key expert in designing the cadaster reform (property register reform), and in 2018 she worked on drafting legislation for this reform - the Law on Property Registration. She is a member of more than 10 Government's working groups, working on tax legislation, public procurement, shadow economy, and other business environment issues.

Slobodan graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, department "Finance, banking and insurance". In 2012, he earned a Master degree from the Faculty of Law, University in Belgrade with a thesis "Allowed forms of state aid in competition law of Serbia and the EU". He attended additional trainings within a Seminar on Trade and Environment Issues for Developing Countries held in Beijing in 2011 and Seminar on Sustainable Development in Venice in 2013. He has been a member of NALED team since 2010, holding the positions of Project Manager, Economic Analyst and currently, Project Coordinator. He has coordinated and participated in the implementation of numerous projects regarding the issues of public finance, fiscal policy, environment protection, public policies on the local and national level. As part of NALED's Policy team, he has been a co-author and associate in developing a large number of studies and analyses related to policy reform and business environment assessment, such as the Grey Book, Regulatory Index of Serbia, Quarterly report on regulatory reform status etc.

Marko is an economist with more than 10 years of experience in major domestic and international organizations, in domains of economic research, banking and academia. He has earned his PhD degree on the subject of ‘’Factors of regional competitiveness’’ at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in 2015, as well as the master’s degree on the subject of ‘’Role of corruption in FDI attraction – case of Central and East European countries’’ at the same university in 2010. He has joined NALED in 2021, in the role of Head of competitiveness unit, after having spent two years as senior economist in CEVES, and in parallel as a Serbian national consultant with UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs. Beforehand, Marko spent seven years in banking, of which two in role of the asset liability manager and five as macroeconomist in Addiko bank. Apart from this, Marko regularly holds lectures in macroeconomics and finance at some of masters programs of the University of Nice, as well as on programs of the Mokra Gora school of management. He has authored a significant number of studies, analyses and scientific articles in Serbia and abroad. Marko speaks English and French fluently.

Jelena is a master economist with 20 years of work experience in the economy, where she had the opportunity to work in sales, finance, as a project manager and general director. She worked in the companies Mlekoprodukt, MK Group, Inway and Medela, while in recent years she was engaged in a family company where she primarily dealt with the introduction of IT systems in other companies. Jelena joined NALED in October 2021, in the position of Head of the Unit for Agriculture and Health.

Milica completed the Bachelor studies at the Faculty of Economy in Belgrade, department of Macroeconomic analysis and policy upon defending a graduation thesis “The challenges of income taxation in Serbia”. She is a student of Master studies at the same Faculty, department of Quantitative analysis, and in parallel, she serves as a demonstrator for the subjects Economics Basics and International Economy. She has been engaged in NALED since January 2016, first as an intern in the Policy department, focusing mainly on the tasks regarding the reform of construction permitting in Serbia, organizing trainings for local government and public enterprise officers all across Serbia and keeping a record about the Call Center operations, the local e-permitting procedure and the level of local fees for the needs of online application Calculator.She is currently engaged as Analytics / Research Officer in charge of economic, descriptive and statistical processing of data in a variety of field NALED deals with.

Jelena graduated from Faculty of Economics of the Belgrade University in 2002, department Statistics and Informatics. Jelena has gained professional experience with the Ministry of finance, in the Department for Macroeconomic and Fiscal Analysis and Projections, where she has been working for 17 years. She got professional development on numerous courses and seminars, in country and abroad, organized mostly by the International Monetary Fund. Jelena has been Assistant Minister in the period September 2007 – March 2016. Main duties and responsibilities were focused on preparation of strategic documents, such as Fiscal Strategy, Economic Reform Program, Budget Law, Budget System Law, etc. Also, she was involved in the process of introduction fiscal responsibility principle, fiscal rules, defining the fiscal measures related to the public finance consolidation Program, improving the process of statistical reporting on the fiscal position of the country in line with the international standards. Jelena was active member of working groups related to the negotiating process on the EU enlargement (chapter 17 and 33). She had a very proactive relationship with Serbian and foreign organizations and institutions, such as the IMF, World Bank, European Commission, Rating Agencies. From March 2017, Jelena has continued to work as a Senior advisor for coordination and managing of the EU own resources, related to the chapter 33. She joined NALED in September 2019, as Policy advisor.

Sanja joined NALED team in November 2019 as Policy Coordinator, covering the issues of environmental protection. Since 2008, she has been working on selected sector policies important for the european integration process of Serbia, while from 2011 on environmental policy  - concreatly coordination  of international development assistance and EU funds for the environment sector. She started the career working on projects related to EU accession process of Serbia in the European Movement of Serbia. Aftrwards she was working for the Government of the Republic of Serbia on EU Macroregional Strategy for the Danube Region, and later on within the Serbian European Integration Office (now-Ministry of European Integration) made specific profesional orientation toward environmental protection area. During 9 years working on coordination of international development assisstance, she worked on the development of strategic, planning and program documents regarding the use of EU and international assistance, including the instrument of pre-accession assistance – IPA. She was working on programing and monitoring on numerous infrastructural projects in the area of environment and on coordination of development of technical documentation in line with serbian and EU standards. In the process of defining priorities for funding, she coordinated numerous national institutions and cooperate with international organizations. She attended trainings and seminars in the country and abroad on sustainable development, solid waste and waste water management. Sanja graduated on the Faculty of Political Science, and she is currently attending Master studies in environmental policy. She speaks English.

Nikola is a law graduate who has been employed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia since December 2014. He spent three years at the Center for Support to Investment and Public Private Partnership as an expert associate for public private partnership. After that, he worked at the Economic Matters Centre for a year as an advisor in the field of labor law and state aid. For the last two years, he has been engaged in the Innovation Department as an independent advisor for innovations, where he provided information on funding, regulations and participated in activities for the development of the innovation ecosystem in Serbia. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Novi Sad in 2011. After that, he successfully completed two masters - European Law at the Faculty of Law of the Union University in Belgrade in 2015 and Public Procurement Management at the University of Tor Vergata in Rome in 2014 as an EBRD scholarship holder. From March 2021, he was hired by NALED as the coordinator for regulatory reform. He is fluent in English and German, and speaks basic French and Portuguese. He is currently in the second year of doctoral studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, majoring in administrative law.

Ana completed graduate and master studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences, earning the title of Master Politicologist for International Relations - module International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law. She was the winner of the national and a participant of the world competition in the field of international humanitarian law. She participated in numerous seminars and education programs in the country and abroad. Before NALED, she gained professional experience in international SFV Consulting Group as an Intern for international development, and she also has experience in insurance, where she worked as Assistant Underwriter for two years. She is interested in state and international affairs, currently working in NALED as Policy Assistant for projects regarding e-government. She speaks English and French.

Isidora is in the position of specialist for regulatory reform in the Department for Sustainable Development, and at the same time she is improving her skills at the Master's program Digital Transformation at the FEFA Faculty. In NALED, she participates in the coordination of the work of the Alliance for Health and the Alliance for Food and Agriculture, and is also engaged in projects of digitalization and modernization of the health system, as well as improvement of the business environment in the field of food and agriculture, financed by international donors (GIZ, USAID, UNDP, EBRD). She completed her basic studies in international relations at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, and during her studies she gained international experience at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and Matej Bell in Slovakia, as part of the Erasmus plus student exchange project. She is an alumni of the OSCE Dialogue Academy for Young Women and the Zoran Đinđić Foundation. He speaks English and German.

Miloš is a student of the final year of the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, department of Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy. During his studies he has been succesfully engaged in university debate, being a winner of the prestigious international debate tournaments „Decembarac 2018“ and „Danny Crane“. He competed in international debate competitions, took part in their organizations and also acted as a judge in university debates. His successes recommended him for the position of Coodinator of debate course at the Faculty of Economics, and he was also appointed the President of debate club. He was first engaged in NALED in November 2019 as an intern on the project „Optimization of healthcare institutions network – Masterplan“. He was later engaged as an analysis and research intern, starting from February 2020. His main tasks refer to the monitoring and reporting on the Regulatory Index of Serbia, as well as the collection, economic and statistic processing of data in various areas and topics NALED works on.

Danilo graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade in April 2019. His first job was that of a legal trainee in the regional law office ODI Law firm - Law firm Ilić & Partners LLP, where he primarily dealt with the legal issues in commercial and contract law. After a year of working with ODI Law firm, Danilo was next engaged by the law office Kopilovic & Kopilovic Law firm, where he specialized in commercial law. He was primarily focused on working with Chinese companies - investors in the Southeast Europe in areas such as infrastructure, renewable energy and mining. During his studies, Danilo showed interest in environmental protection. He attended the Law Clinic for Environmental Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade, and he did an internship at the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Danilo joined NALED in December 2020 as Policy Intern in the Environmental Protection Unit.

Tamara completed her bachelor’s degree studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade, at Department of Journalism and Communication. She is currently studying for a master's degree at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, majoring in project management. She gained her work experience in the field of communications and PR through her engagement in the public relations team at the Belgrade Documentary Film Festival BELDOCS. After graduating at her bachelor’s degree studies, she worked as an intern in the position of project coordinator in the Central European Development Forum CEDEF, where she gained practical experience in the field of project management, and also further improved her communication and marketing skills. She joined the NALED team in 2020 at the position of Communications and Inspections Inter in the Support Division to the Coordination Commission for Inspection Oversight, where she is now engaged as an Communication Officer.

Sanja graduated from the Faculty of Law in Belgrade in 2017, at the Department of International Law. Currently, she is completing a master's degree in Labor and Social Law at the same faculty. During her studies, Sanja was a scholarship holder of the Ministry of Education in 2014 and 2015 and a scholarship holder of the Faculty of Law for the best 100 students of the Faculty in 2015. After graduating, she gained work experience as an intern in a law office, where she worked in various areas of law, especially Litigation, Labor Law and Misdemeanor Law. During her internship in law office, Sanja also worked as a consultant for DGD Deutsche Gesellcshaft für Datenschutz GmbH, where she was engaged in the field of data protection and has managed project based on 9001 ISO standard and ISO sertification. She has passed the bar exam in July 2020, and in January 2021 she has passed Belgrade Bar Association exam.

Jovana is finishing her final year of bachelor studies in International affairs at Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade. During her studies she was the Vice President and later, President of The Student Parliament in 2020/21. She was also the President of Youth Team Initiative. Through informal education and active participation in the civic sector, she gained experience in regional cooperation and youth policy. Jovana was also a peer educator on youth projects concerning political system, democratic values and civic participation. She joined NALED in August 2021 as a Regulatory Reform Intern.

Dušan graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, majoring in international relations, and he is currently studying for a master's degree at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade. During his studies, he was a collaborator on projects of the Association for the United Nations of Serbia, such as the Coffee Dialogue, Youth Delegates of Serbia to the United Nations, and numerous workshops and conferences. Dušan is engaged in analytical and assistance tasks as an intern within the Department for Regulatory Reform. He joined the NALED team in December 2021.

Iilja graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade and earned a degree in political science for international affairs. During his studies, he started volunteering and doing internships in the non-governmental sector in Serbia. He had the opportunity to participate in the Winter School "Sustainability of Political Systems in Eurasia", organized by the Moscow State University "Lomonosov", and as part of a regional program he also stayed at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Zagreb. He interned at the Youth Initiative for Human Rights and the Center for Geostrategic Research and Terrorism. Ilija joined the NALED team as an intern engaged in analytical and assistance tasks in the domain of digitization within the Department for Regulatory Reform. 

Jovana graduated from the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, majoring in international studies, and is currently pursuing a master's degree at the same faculty, in the Environmental Law sub-module. During her studies, she attended the legal clinic for Environmental Law (Jean Monnet Chair in European Environmental Law - supported by the OSCE and the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union) and did an internship at the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Also, she was an intern at the Office for European Integration in the Sector for Coordination of the Accession Process and Monitoring of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, and after her studies she did an internship at a law firm dealing with various areas of law, especially litigation. Jovana has been engaged in NALED since December 2021 as an intern for the ongoing activities of the Environmental Unit.