The Cornell University Board of Trustees elected Miguel Antonio Ferrer, president and chief executive officer of UBS PaineWebber Inc. of Puerto Rico, as a trustee fellow May 25. His four-year term became effective July 1.

Ferrer will serve on the Committee on Academic Affairs and Campus Life, the Committee on Alumni Affairs and Development and on the Investment Committee.

He is the first Puerto Rican to have received this recognition from the Ivy League university.

Ferrer has been president and CEO of PaineWebber Inc. of Puerto Rico since 1983. He also is president and CEO of PaineWebber Trust Company of Puerto Rico.

Ferrer helped establish the investment industry in Puerto Rico, while making significant contributions to Puerto Rican public service. He served as a director of the Consultative Board of the University of Puerto Rico, 1989-92; was a member of the board of the Puerto Rico Museum of Architecture; and is on the board of directors of the University of Puerto Rico Foundation. He has been a member of the Governing Board for the Puerto Rico Strategy project; a member of the Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewer Authority, 1986-88; and a founding member and past president of the Puerto Rico Financial Analysts Association and the Puerto Rico Securities Industry Association.

Ferrer was president of fundraising for the American Red Cross, 1990-91, and founding director of Friends of the Puerto Rico Academy of Spanish Language, 1996. He has served on the board of directors of the Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corp., on the board of directors and as treasurer of La Casa del Libro in San Juan, as well as on the board of directors of the Fundacíon Biblioteca Rafael Hernandez Colón, 1993 –  2000.

For Cornell, Ferrer is a co-founding member of the Puerto Rican Alumni Endowment Scholarship Committee and a member of the Cornell Club of Puerto Rico.

Ferrer received his B.A. degree in 1959 and his MBA in 1961, both from Cornell. His father, two uncles, two cousins and a son also are Cornell graduates. His son, Alejandro, currently attends Cornell.