Jelena Popara was born on 19 April 1980 in Belgrade.

In 2004, she graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Economics with a degree in finance, accounting and audit. She obtained the ACCA international accounting and auditing license in 2012. She has worked as a consultant in KPMG Belgrade from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, she joined the NIS management team and from 2013 worked as CFO in the NIS’ subsidiary in Romania.

In March 2016, she was appointed Director of the Internal Audit Function.