Mike M. Murad, vice chairman and chief executive officer of the International Bank of Asia (IBA) in Hong Kong, has been elected to the DePaul University Board of Trustees.

     Murad, 58, was instrumental in the opening of a DePaul MBA program for IBA employees, the first in-house MBA program offered by a Hong Kong bank to its staff when it was launched in 1997. The program graduated its first MBA class of 18 students in December 1998 and has since expanded to include a bachelor's degree offered through DePaul's School for New Learning. The programs are taught by DePaul professors who travel to Hong Kong to present courses.

     "It is a great honor and privilege to serve as a trustee of DePaul University," Murad said. "I am very proud of the association between DePaul and the International Bank of Asia which is based on a shared commitment to DePaul's educational mission. I strongly support DePaul's expansion beyond its traditional geographic outreach. American education and DePaul's unique expertise in adult learning have much to offer people abroad, while at the same time enriching the lives of DePaul faculty and students through international contact."

     Edward A. Brennan, chairman of DePaul's Board of Trustees, said: "We welcome the contributions of Mike Murad to the Board of Trustees. As the university expands its educational outreach to students around the world, Mike's experience with DePaul's degree programs at the IBA will help guide us into the future."

     Murad has enjoyed a 28-year career in banking. He assumed his role as CEO of IBA, one of Hong Kong's leading banks, in 1988. Under his leadership, the bank has focused on medium and small companies and middle income families, delivering an extensive range of retail banking products. In addition to his position at IBA, Murad is head of the Asia division of Arab Banking Corporation (ABC), the parent bank of IBA and the leading bank in the Middle East with assets of $23 billion. Prior positions included appointments as executive vice president of Sun Bank of Miami and consultant to the president and chief executive of ABC.

     Murad was a lecturer at the University of Maryland. He is the author of "Profit Planning: Theory and Implementation" and has contributed articles on banking and financial markets to the Asian Wall Street Journal and International Herald Tribune. Formerly a champion long-distance swimmer, he has raised money for charities through swimming exhibitions and in 1992 received the Paul Harris Fellow Award of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International for charitable work.

     Murad earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Cleary College in Ann Arbor, Mich., and an MBA from the University of Miami. He has studied banking management at Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University, the University of Michigan Graduate School of Banking, the University of Wisconsin and the Harvard Executive Management Program.

     DePaul's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business awarded Murad an honorary degree at the school's commencement ceremony in 1998.