Dr. Drago Čepar was born at Barka near Divača on 21 December 1946. In 1970, he graduated in technical mathematics from the Faculty of Natural Science and Technology, University of Ljubljana. In 1976, he completed his MSc degree in operational research at the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana; then, in 1987, he received his PhD degree in the field of information and management sciences. From 1970 to 1993 the Jožef Stefan Institute employed him. From 1993 to 1997 he was State Secretary for the Family at the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, where he introduced a computer-supported system for the payment of family benefits. During the period of the restructuring of secondary education and the reintroduction of grammar schools he was for eight years a member of the Professional Council of the RS for Upbringing and Education, and headed the working group on compulsory elective subjects. At the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering he lectured on operational research and optimisation methods. Before being appointed as Director of the Office for Religious Communities in 2000 he had been employed for three years at the Ministry of Defence, where he introduced educational study-programmes for secondary school pupils and worked on research projects and the introduction of the religious spiritual care for soldiers. In February 2005 he obtained a master's degree in political science after successfully defending his thesis (“Administrative Regulation of the Registration and Operation of Religious Communities”).