Jelena was born in 1976th in Belgrade. She graduated at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics and Business and worked in the private sector as a marketing director until 2006th when she was employed in the Ministry of Finance, Financial System Sector. Then she moved to the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering where worked for almost fifteen years. She performed the duties of an analyst, and then the head of the Department for Analytics and Financial Information Affairs from where she moved to the position of an independent executor outside of all organizational units, responsible to the Director of the Administration. In 2022nd she became Financial Forensics Expert at the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime.
Since 2012nd she has been the coordinator of the National Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing and since 2021st of the Risk Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in the Digital Assets Sector and the Risk Assessment of Financing the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
She is a member of the Coordinating Committee for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism and one of the coordinators of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for monitoring the implementation of activities of the Strategy for Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism. She is the Head of a large number of Expert Teams established by the Committee, including the Expert Team that assesses the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing in the real estate sector.
Jelena managed the development of the Council of Europe's Typology of Money Laundering of income from Organized Crime.
Jelena is a consultant to the OSCE and the Council of Europe. She is an evaluator of the Moneyval Committee of the Council of Europe.
Jelena is a Certified Fraud Investigator (CFE) and a Certified Money Laundering Investigator (ACAMS).
Jelena is a lecturer at many seminars and workshops for the private and public sector and is the author of publications in the field of money laundering and terrorist financing.