Murad Ismael is the executive director and a board member of YAZDA, a nonprofit organization established to support the Yazidi ethno-religious minority group in the United States and the Yazidi homeland in northern Iraq and northeastern Syria. Murad’s motivation is to help genocide victims and raise awareness to protect minorities who have been a subject of persecution based on identity. Murad received his M.S. and MCE degrees from Norwich University and the University of Houston in Texas.