Irena Križ Šelendić graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Zagreb. Before joining the ministry she worked in the building industry on project development of residential and tourist settlements, sports halls, hotels and apartment villages.
Since 2009, she has been employed at the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets of the Republic of Croatia. As Head of the Sector for Energy Efficiency in Buildings, she works on national strategies and programs for energy renovation of buildings, development of legislation and implementation of EU regulations.
She is a member of the management team of the EU project The Concerted Action for the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, and a member of two committees at the European Commission. As the project manager for the beneficiary country on behalf of the Republic of Croatia, she led IPA 2012, Twinning light project “Strengthening the capacity for energy efficiency in buildings in Croatia” in 2018.
As part of the Croatian team, she participated in many EU projects such as BUILD UPON, BUILT-UP SKILS, CA EED and BUILD 2LC.
She is a winner of the Croatian annual award for green building and sustainable development in the category Person of the Year for 2019.