Biography

Let me introduce my self.  I usually go by Tom, though, as you note, my full name is Thomas.  There is a middle name as well, so my full signature is Thomas A. Fink.

I am a retired Baby Boomer, born in the mid-1950's.  I grew up in St. Ann, Missouri, which is one of St. Louis's suburbs, right by the airport.  After high school, I moved to Washington, DC to attend Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.  I received a BSFS in International Commerce and Finance, graduated with honors, Phi Beta Kappa.   My intention was to become active in international affairs after graduation, but that didn't happen.

I got engaged at Georgetown, married the September after graduation (still married and approaching our 50th anniversary in 2026), and started my first job in finance.  Ultimately, I spent 20 years as an investment banker working on state and local bonds.  I worked on housing, healthcare and infrastructure all over the United States and Puerto Rico. 

I left investment banking to go to work for one of my clients, the North American Development Bank, as their first Chief Financial Officer.

After that stint I went back to Wall Street working for a data and analytics firm which focused on  ABS and the then nascent Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) market, with the intention to returning to investment banking.  That never happened and I had a successful career at Trepp (www.trepp.com) for almost 25 years, until retirement.

I am an avid reader, podcast listener and observer.  I currently serve on the Board of Directors for the National Consumer Cooperative Bank.  My free time is spent in the garden or the workshop.

So that is a sketch of my background.  The ideas and thoughts which will follow in future posts grow out of it.