Željko Jelić was born in 1953 in Zagreb, Croatia (sign Virgin). He started his working career in communication at the Satirical Theatre Jazavac (today known as Kerempuh). He worked then at Universiade ’87 (World University Games), Konzum, and Badel 1862. At Badel 1862 he worked for 28 years, until his retirement in 2018 as the Head of Corporate PR. He specializes in various public relations strategies: corporate publicity, media, product PR, business events, internal communications, and crisis communications.
He is one of the eight founders of the Croatian Public Relations Association (HUOJ). He was a member of the HUOJ Court of Honour (2008 – 2010) and a jury member of the HUOJ Annual Award (Grand Prix 2014 and 2015). Since 2014 he is the HUOJ Certified Professional in Public Relations. He is also a member of the Croatian Cultural Club.
He taught Public Relations I and II at the Agora University College, University of Zagreb (2006 – 2017) and at the Super Business School in Zagreb 2008 -2015), as well as, prepared all teaching and curriculum materials (refereed) for the abovementioned subjects. He was also a guest lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science (FPZ) at the University Department of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, and at the Public Relations School organized by the FPZ and the Institute for New Media and E-democracy (InMed) in Zagreb.
He won the second prize at the HOUJ Grand Prix 2008 for the project “In vino veritas”, Badel 1862. He is especially proud of the project “Koralt – Wine from the Stone (from planting to today)”, product PR, Badel 1862. In 2016 he got the Award for his contribution to the development profession, awarded by HUOJ.
He is a proud grandfather of Sara and Korina.
