Daughter of Dr Richard Klugman (MHR 1969-1990) and Kris Klugman (also a candidate for the NSW Legislative Assembly), Jeni was educated at Burnside Public School and Cumberland High School. She graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Law and Economics, winning a Rhodes Scholarship from New South Wales to Oxford University.

She joined the ALP in 1979 and has held various offices in the party at branch and electorate level. She has been a delegate to Annual Conference and was a member of several policy committees. She was on the Executive of Young Labor 1986-87.

In 1996 Jeni commenced a Ph.D. with the Centre for Economic Research, Australian National University and in 1998.

"Jeni Klugman is a senior adviser at the World Bank and a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Women and Public Policy Program. She currently serves on the World Economic Forum's Global Advisory Council on Benchmarking Progress and Advisory Board on Sustainability and Competitiveness. Previously, Klugman was director of Gender & Development at the World Bank Group, where she served as lead spokesperson on gender equality issues, and was responsible for developing strategic directions to support the institution's gender and development priorities."

Sources used to compile this entry: Putting Skirts on the Sacred Benches: Women Candidates for the New South Wales Parliament, Australian Women's Archives Project, 2006, http://www.womenaustralia.info/exhib/pssb/home.html; Labor Times Vol. 2 no 1, 1988; Australian National University, Research School of Social Sciences, Economics Group, Annual Report 1998; http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/people/jeni-klugman.