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The China Institute of Financial Derivatives of Peking University announced today that Leo Melamed, Chairman Emeritus of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), has accepted the position of Honorary Dean.
“Peking University, the time-honored academy of higher education in China, has bestowed upon me and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange a great honor and responsibility,” said Mr. Melamed. “I humbly accept this honor and I pray that I can meet the challenge it represents.”
Mr. Melamed has been a longstanding supporter of the development of China’s financial derivatives industry. In April 2006, at the invitation of Professor Zheng Xueyi, Chief, Office of Continuing Education of Peking University, and Dean, China Institute of Financial Derivatives of Peking University , Mr. Melamed visited Peking University and made a presentation of financial books on behalf of CME.
The Institute sent Mr. Melamed a letter of congratulations for his appointment. Professor Zheng Xueyi, Chief, Office of Continuing Education of Peking University, and Dean, China Institute of Financial Derivatives of Peking University said, “We are very pleased that Mr. Melamed has taken the position of honorable Dean of the China Institute of Financial Derivatives of Peking University. His acceptance strengthens the international and academic authority for high-quality training of financial derivatives and pushes forward the international development of Peking University.”
Mr. Melamed is recognized the world over as “the founder of financial futures.” He currently serves as a director of CME Holdings Inc. and as Chairman Emeritus and a director of CME. He served as Chairman of CME from 1969 to 1972 and as founding chairman of the International Monetary Market from 1972 until its merger with CME in 1977, and thereafter served as an officer of CME until 1991. In addition, Mr. Melamed is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Melamed & Associates, a global consulting group, and also serves on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Global Markets Advisory Council.
At the close of 1999, Mr. Melamed was named by the former editor of the Chicago Tribune as one of the ten most important Chicagoans in business in the 20 th Century. Chicago Magazine included him among the century’s top 100 Chicagoans. In 2003, Pensions & Investments Magazine included Mr. Melamed in their list of 30 individuals whose contribution “made the most dramatic difference” in the management of money during the last 100 years.
The Peking University is recognized as a prestigious university both at home and abroad. As the directly subordinate institution of important research and teaching of Peking University, the China Institute is the first authoritative institute founded by a higher institution of learning in China. As a leader in Chinese advanced education, Peking University boasts abundant advantages on teaching and research. The number of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, “Changjiang Scholarship” professors issued by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, national excellent youth foundation winners and national subjects is more than those of other Chinese universities.
Under such background, Peking University established the China Institute of Financial Derivatives in 2006. With the resource support of Peking University, the China Institute of Financial Derivatives is dedicated to the research and application of financial derivatives, and to the cultivation of higher-level financial derivatives talent with a global vision that together will contribute to the development of China’s financial derivatives industry.
