Maad Abu-Ghazalah immigrated to the United States in 1979 because of his awareness and admiration of the freedoms espoused by the Founding Fathers of this country and the Constitution and Bill of Rights upon which it was built.

Since arriving in America, he has earned three degrees - a Bachelors in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame, a Masters in computer science from the University of Virginia, and a law degree from Santa Clara University.

In 1997, he founded a successful software business, MAG Systems, which has 70 patent law firms and corporations as clients nationwide. He is also an immigration attorney who defends low-income, primarily Latino non-citizens in immigration proceedings.

Maad has been very active in the civil rights movement since his arrival in the Bay Area in 1990. He was President of the Middle Eastern Law Students Association at Santa Clara University and also served as President of the San Francisco Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), where he has volunteered his time since 1997. During his tenure as President at the ADC-SF, Maad helped organize a legal forum on the rights of non-citizens and led an information campaign about the humanitarian aspects of the U.N. blockade on Iraq, including the erection of a large pro-peace billboard on the approach to the Bay Bridge.

Maad has worked hard to create alliances within the civil rights and anti-war movement and was one of the founding members of the California Civil Rights Alliance, which consists of over a dozen civil rights organizations.

Maad is an animal lover and currently has two cats he brought home from the Peninsula Humane Society . Maad spends his free time windsurfing at Coyote Point and rock climbing in Pacifica.