Gábor Jenei was born on 26 June 1980 in Szeged, Hungary. He graduated from geography major in 2003, specialized in regional development. After the university years, he started to work for an advisor company and dealt with pre-accession funds provided by the European Union (EU). Between 2005 and 2011, the governmental water directorate employed him where he managed environmental investment projects co-financed by the EU. In this period he was honoured by the responsible minister for his efforts made during the defence activities against the historical flood of the River Tisza in 2006. From 2011 onwards, he worked for the Regional Development Agency of the South Great Plain Region and managed all the Agency’s international projects. In 2012 he moved to Budapest, after being appointed Head of Unit of cross-border cooperation programmes at the National Development Agency. In 2015, he became National Coordinator of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) as Head of Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In 2016, he participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) in the United States, where representatives from 15 countries shared best practices in transboundary water management. From June 2018 to May 2019, Mr. Jenei filled the position of Head of Department responsible for water diplomacy and the Danube Region Strategy. Since May 2019, he has been working for the HEPA Hungarian Export Promotion Agency, where he was promoted to CEO in May 2023. HEPA, as a background organization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, helps Hungarian companies with professional services and incentives to expand their products and services into international markets.