Financial Services >> CEO Interviews >> May 1, 1998

Thomas J. Herzfeld – Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund (cuba)

THOMAS J. HERZFELD is Chairman and President of Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc. (an SEC registered investment advisory firm), Thomas J. Herzfeld & Co., Inc. (a stock brokerage firm), and HERZFELD/CUBA which is the investment advisor to The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, a closed-end fund and the first investment company formed to invest in Cuba and the Caribbean Basin. Thomas J. Herzfeld is considered the first and the leading expert in the field of closed-end funds. He is the author of the first, and for many years the only, textbook on the subject, The Investor's Guide to Closed-End Funds (McGraw-Hill, 1980) and Herzfeld's Guide to Closed-End Funds (McGraw-Hill, 1993), as well as co-author of High Return, Low Risk Investment, Combining Market Timing, Stock Selection, and Closed-End Funds (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1981; and Mentor, 1981, 1983 paperback) and the revised version, High Return, Low Risk Investment, Using Stock Selection and Market Timing (McGraw-Hill, 1993). Mr. Herzfeld has been quoted in thousands of articles and written hundreds of articles on the subject of closed-end funds and has contributed to many other books on the subject, such as The Encyclopedia of Investments and The Financial Times Global Guide to Investing. He has written periodically for Barron's and has made television appearances on Wall Street Week, The Nightly Business Report, and CNBC. Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc. currently published a monthly research report on closed-end funds and an annual Thomas J. Herzfeld Encyclopedia of Closed-End Funds. The 1997/1998 Edition of that book is now available. Mr. Herzfeld entered the securities industry in the 1960's. While still in his early twenties, he formed and became senior partner of a New York Stock Exchange member firm. Prior to founding Thomas J. Herzfeld & Co. Inc. in 1981, he was Executive Vice President and director of a prominent New York Stock Exchange member firm on Wall Street. Mr. Herzfeld lives with his wife and two children on Fisher Island (Miami, Florida). Profile
TWST: Please give us a background sketch, a brief summary on The

Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, and then bring us up-to-date; tell us

what that company is doing today?

Mr. Herzfeld: The