In Memoriam.
The Group has been honored to count on the support of many distinguished and dedicated members of its Board of Directors over the years — several of them Founding Members. They freely devoted their time to our mission, and their legacy will endure and inspire those who follow. They will never be forgotten.
A founding member and first Treasurer of CBSG. A graduate of the University of Havana, he was a Partner and Managing Director of KPMG for 33 years, heading its auditing and consulting division for international banks in Florida.
Read Full Bio →Carlos Fernández, CPA was a founding member of the Cuban Banking Study Group and its first Treasurer. He graduated from the University of Havana, Cuba in 1960 and obtained a degree in Business Administration from the University of Florida in 1963. Carlos was a Partner and Managing Director of KPMG (formerly Peat Marwick & Mitchell) for 33 years, between 1971 and 2004, where he headed the growing auditing and consulting division for international banks in Florida. After his retirement from KPMG in 2004, he established his own public accounting and banking consultant firm in Key Biscayne, Florida. He also found time to work with the Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa (Inter-American Press Association).
Founding Board member and Secretary of CBSG. Chairman of the Miami law firm Harper Meyer and a leading attorney in Latin American business transactions; President of the Inter-American Bar Association.
Read Full Bio →Founding member of the Board of Directors and Secretary of the Cuban Banking Study Group. George R. Harper was Chairman of the Miami law firm Harper Meyer Perez Hagen O’Connor Albert & Dribin LLP and a leading attorney in business transactions with Latin America, especially in the commercial aviation field. Among other civic and community involvements, George was President of the Inter-American Bar Association and chaired the University of Miami Alumni Association. He was a founder of the Cuban Claims Association and had a keen interest in all matters related to his native Cuba, which he visited on various occasions in later years to better understand its legal environment and the changes necessary to facilitate an orderly growth of private economic development.
National Security Adviser to Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush — the only person to serve two administrations in that role. He served as Chairman of CBSG almost from its inception.
Read Full Bio →Brent Scowcroft played a prominent role in American foreign policy as National Security Adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, and was a Republican voice against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He died on August 6, 2020 at his home in Falls Church, Virginia. Mr. Scowcroft was the only person to serve as National Security Adviser to two different administrations; his appointment by Ford in 1975 came as he retired from the Air Force with the rank of lieutenant general, and he advised Bush — by then a close friend — throughout the 1989–93 administration. Mr. Scowcroft served as Chairman of the Cuban Banking Study Group almost from its inception and provided valuable assistance during our early deliberations. We are indebted to him and will always remember his kind but firm disposition.
Founding Board member of CBSG and Professor Emeritus of St. Thomas University. An economist (M.A./Ph.D., University of Miami) and author of several books on Cuba, he was a prime driver in the formation of CBSG.
Read Full Bio →Founding member of the Board of Directors of the Cuban Banking Study Group. Raúl M. Shelton taught at Saint Thomas Catholic University in Havana, Cuba from 1951 to 1961, the year he was forced into exile. He continued his studies in economics at the University of Miami, where he earned his M.A. and Ph.D., and became Professor Emeritus of St. Thomas University, Miami. He wrote and published several books, including “Cuba y su Cultura” and “Labor Conditions in Communist Cuba,” and co-authored the three-volume “Cuba y su Historia.” Raúl had been a Director of Banco de Fomento Agrícola e Industrial de Cuba (BANFAIC) and owned a Mercedes-Benz distributorship in Havana. An intensive tennis player and accomplished painter, he was passionate about the Cuban banking and financial system and a prime driver in the formation of the CBSG.
President and CEO of Professional Bank, Coral Gables. A patron of the arts and Chairman of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami, he was an active CBSG Board member.
Read Full Bio →Raúl G. Valdés-Fauli was President and CEO of Professional Bank, Coral Gables, Florida. His great love for the arts and humanities led him to serve on the Board of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, as Chairman of the Board of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Miami, and as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras. Although one of the younger and more recent CBSG Board members, he quickly became an active participant in the Group’s activities, and — out of his interest and love for Cuba — took part in the workshop the CBSG organized in Havana in July 2016.