Jeff is our founder. He’s a visionary doer that can make a solid difference for your company. He has over 20 years of strategic and tactical financial management experience in both the corporate world and startups here in Silicon Valley.

An expert in business plan development, fundraising, financial modeling, management reviews, strategic planning, and process improvement, Jeff has provided strategic financial cover for many successful companies.

Jeff has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Duke and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Walt Spevak has over 25 years of business experience providing both start-ups and public companies with essential skills in pre-public company fundraising strategy development, strategic planning, market research, financial modeling and budgeting/forecasting.

Most recently he has worked with clients focused on both corporate employee philanthropy and mobile philanthropy, as well as companies in the online health and wellness space, mobile team productivity, consumer goods, video gaming community, cloud syncing and bitcoin money transfer.

Walt holds both a BA in Economics and an MBA from Stanford University.

Marc has a 25-year track record of financial leadership, fundraising and accelerating growth for early stage companies, turnarounds and international organizations ready to scale. He is a builder of businesses in B2C / B2BC technology-focused organizations in consumer goods & services, retail, SaaS and education and the emerging aging marketplace. Marc has extensive experience setting up and running teams in FP&A, Fundraising, Corporate Strategy, Operations, Business and Product Development, Quality Assurance, Customer Service and Marketing.

Marc is also a strong supporter of social enterprise ventures.  He was CEO of Fitness Forward, COO of Management Leadership for Tomorrow and was President of the Harvard Business School Alumni Club.

To help startups with smarter finance, Marc is armed with an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S from Babson College where he triple major in Finance, Economics and Marketing and graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Rick Kjellberg helps startups define pathways to financial stability that enable them to create high-functioning teams. Rick is passionate about technology and policy innovations to power a carbon-free energy future. Thus, he is a mentor for the Cleantech Open and also the CEO of ATLARMOR, a finance and operations advisory firm to cleantech startups. 

Prior to joining Burkland Associates, Rick oversaw the Financial Planning & Analysis team at NEXT, Samsung’s venture arm. There, he provided financial strategy and budgetary alignment for NEXT as well as for startups within the portfolio. Before NEXT, Rick was promoted through a series of executive roles at Ogin Energy, a venture-backed wind energy equipment manufacturer. Prior to Ogin, Rick was a senior financial consultant at Chatham Financial, advising clients on their derivatives and debt management strategies. Rick began his career as an officer and instructor pilot in the US Air Force; he piloted Cabinet Secretaries, Members of Congress and general officers and developed expertise in operations and training. 

Rick is a Distinguished Graduate of the US Air Force Academy with a BS in Astronautical Engineering.  He has an MSA in Information Resource Management from Central Michigan University, an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MPA from the Kennedy School at Harvard University.

Elmar has over 25 years of Finance and Operations experience in the US and Europe, helping start-ups and later stage companies to drive and manage significant growth, implement accountability with actionable budgets, forecasts, ongoing business reviews and action plans. His focus is in e-Commerce, SaaS, Consumer goods and international Retail.

Elmar has strong expertise in startups, venture capital, angel funding & private equity, venture debt, M&A, strategic financial planning & modeling, system implementation and corporate restructuring. He has an extensive record of success with managing rapid growth, the execution and integration of mergers and acquisitions, and a solid background in GAAP accounting, payroll management, human resources, budgeting and forecasting.

Before joining Burkland, Elmar was the CFO at Because, a health and wellness e-Commerce startup, were he completed an acquisition and successful integration, closed $16M B round and $5M venture debt, and implemented effective internal controls. Prior to this, his experience includes being the CFO and VP of Operations at SheetMusicPlus (acquired by Hal Leonard LLC), the CFO for Navio and Gbox, the CFO at AGENTRICS (acquired by Neogrid) and the Director of Finance and Planning for the Metro Group, a $60B international retailer in Europe.

Elmar earned a Masters degree in finance, accounting and controlling from the University of Applied Science, Trier, Germany and passed the CPA Exam in the US.

Peter Chouinard is the Managing Director of our consumer group and an on-demand CFO. Peter has over 30 years of business experience working with consumer product startups, private and public companies. Most recently Peter was the CEO of Devine Products, an exponential growth, consumer products & technology development company.

Peter’s early career experience was at General Mills and Foster Farms where he was involved in finance, accounting, operations and strategy. More recently Peter has been a CFO then CEO for various food & wine businesses and ventures. In the wine industry he has led financial restructuring efforts and acquisitions, facilitated organizational development and culture change, developed business plans, launched new brands, raised capital and achieved both strategic and financial results. He also leveraged his breadth of expertise in a range of technology ventures involving, consumer technology, SaaS and IoT.

Peter has a Bachelors in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and a Master of Science in Accounting from the Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a Master of Science in Finance from Bentley University.

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Keith brings more than 15 years of deep experience as a full time or contract CFO to startups and high growth companies in a wide range of industries including biotech, nanotech, real estate, SAAS and food & beverage.  In addition to the customary finance roles of a CFO, he also has experience managing investor relations and due diligence, HR and benefits, IT and insurance, as well as fund raising and successful exits for founders.

As the CFO for a biotech company at which he continues to be engaged, he set up and manages the company’s financial systems and processes and has been deeply involved in the company’s fundraising.  For a food & beverage company, he also set up systems and processes from scratch, managed cash so that no outside investment was needed while growing the company from $4 million to over $100 million.  For a nanotech company, he authored the offering document and closed the $36 million Series A round, one of the largest Series A raises at the time. 

Prior to becoming an entrepreneurial CFO, Keith’s corporate experience included Vice President  Corporate Development of Kaiser Aluminum, where he was one of four direct reports to the CEO of a Fortune 500 global company.  He was also Vice President International, Business Manager of the Primary Aluminum Business Unit, Assistant Treasurer and served on the Board of Directors of operating companies in Europe, Africa and China.  Previously at Chevron, Keith was the finance director on the negotiating team that created the $20 billion TengizChevroil joint venture in Kazakhstan, and he received the Chairman’s Award for his financial planning application, which was used worldwide for 20 years. 

Keith earned a BS in Biological Sciences from Stanford, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Renée has extensive, diverse and global experience in CFO and COO roles with technology-focused, product-driven organizations. Her roles included numerous business transformations, multiple successful exits, and M&A, team development, merger integration and investor relations.

Before Burkland, Renée was the Executive Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer for Zenfolio. She was their first CFO following the company’s spin-out from Art.com. There, she established all internal finance, HR and legal systems and processes, including Strategic Planning. She was instrumental in helping guide their first-time CEO and executive team through the rigors of a private equity environment, with a focus on strategy and communications. She has also served as Chief Financial Officer for seven companies and their subsidiaries.

Renée has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Cum Laude, from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is also a Certified Public Accountant (New Jersey).

David has extensive experience in fintech, SaaS, IoT, B2B eCommerce and capital markets.  He has helped organizations of all sizes with strategic finance that includes M&A, budgeting, planning, and business strategy.

David has covered every angle of M&A – from deal model to valuation, due diligence to closing, and full integration. He has also led and transformed planning activities at several organizations, including multi-year budgets, long range outlooks and short term forecasts. His decade of divisional CFO job responsibilities, include finance transformation, IT budgeting & procurement, and commercial banking.

David held several CFO roles at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MFUG), JP Morgan Chase, and Ernst & Young. He also worked as Director of Finance at Zama Networks, Inc., a data storage and ISP, and as a Controller at Indaba Communications, Inc., which was engaged in the early development of virtual reality teleconferencing.

David has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin. He is also a current CPA and CFA charter holder, a graduate of Deloitte CFO Academy, and a graduate of Financial Executives International (FEI) CFO Bootcamp. David is active in non-profits and serves as BOD President for Family Support Services of the Bay Area.

Ardy brings more than 12 years of diverse tax, accounting, finance and business consulting experience to his role as Tax Practice Lead at Burkland Associates.

Ardy has gained extensive accounting and tax experience through various positions with small and large companies, serving in the roles of Financial and Internal Auditor, Tax Accountant and Controller.

Ardy is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the California Society of CPAs and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Corporate Accounting and Finance degree from San Jose State University.

Wendell brings decades of experience in financial management across multiple technology-related industries that include biotechnology, medical devices, software, and Internet. He has successfully enabled several companies and startups develop business plans, establish financial and internal control infrastructure, and navigate through fundraising efforts.

Before joining Burkland Associates, Wendell had been the CFO of a number of startups. For several years, he served as the Consulting CFO of OncoGenesis Corporation, a medical device company committed to improving the health of women worldwide. He was also co-founder and CFO of 3CPM, which developed FDA-approved clinically based non-invasive EGG diagnostic and analysis Systems. Before that, Wendell was also a co-founder and CFO of Maven Labs (purchased by Abbott Laboratories), of Industrial Fermentation Genetics, a biotech company, and a consultant to the Chairman of Network Solutions. He has also worked at Arthur D. Little, and KPMG.

Wendell has a Bachelors in Accounting from George Washington University and an MBA from Washington University’s Olin School of Business. He is a co-Founder of the Association of BioScience Financial Officers, and a board member to several non-profit organizations.

Jeff has over 25 years of experience in finance leadership roles, helping companies with strategic planning, financial analysis, reporting, forecasting, modeling, treasury, cash management, revenue recognition, corporate governance, equity compensation, and contract negotiations. 

Jeff was the CFO of HealthCrowd, an end-to-end healthcare communications solution. Before that, Jeff was the CFO at Apixio, which uses predictive analytics to enable hosts of existing and new health technology providers to move, transact, search, analyze and display medical information. Prior to that, he was VP Division Finance Officer at CoreLogic a provider of property information, analytics and services. Before that, he was the VP of Finance and Administration at Dorado, a provider of intelligent SaaS solutions and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) architecture to the financial services industry. Jeff was also VP of Finance and Accounting at Epocrates in San Mateo, which provided mobile drug reference tools and electronic health records to healthcare professionals and interactive services to the healthcare industry.

Jeff has a Bachelors of Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles, and an MBA from California State University at Hayward. He is also a CPA with an active California license.

Bobby’s strong financial acumen helps startups develop winning business models and getting to profitability quickly. He has over 25 years leadership experience at both public and private technology companies, giving financial cover to high performance, data-driven teams.

Before Burkland Associates, Bobby was CEO and CFO of Playlist Media, a generation Z-focused streaming music company, where he remains an active board member. Prior to Playlist Media, Bobby was VP of Finance at NorthStar Systems, an enterprise software company, where managed finance, accounting, HR and IT. He also set pricing structures and negotiated contracts with Fortune 500 companies for seven figure software licensing arrangements. Prior to NorthStar, Bobby was CFO of Tribeworks, a publicly traded multimedia software company, where he brought the company to profitability within two years and also served as General Manager and on the Board of Directors. Prior to that, Bobby co-founded Mjuice.com, an Internet music distribution company, where he served as the Chief Financial Officer and General Manager. Mjuice was the first company to deliver music securely from the web to portable devices and was sold to ARTISTdirect. Before Mjuice, Bobby was the Controller and interim CFO at Oceania, an enterprise software company. Prior to that he was a Senior Consultant at Price Waterhouse.

Bobby graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a CPA (inactive) in the State of California.

Stewart has worked both as an executive inside companies and as an external advisor in finance, corporate development, strategy, business development, corporate marketing and in technical roles. He has founded five companies, built teams and launched multiple businesses.  Stewart has also served in multiple management roles in public and private companies and has several years experience as a CFO.

Stewart has extensive experience in SaaS, and was part of the management team of the first SaaS company to reach $100 million in revenues, WebEx. As an investment banker, Stewart advised companies in the tech industry on capital raising, M&A and strategic initiatives, and managed 31 Initial Public Offerings.  Stewart has helped raise over $2 Billion for companies in over 50 transactions.

Prior to Burkland, Stewart managed his own consulting practice, On Demand Ventures, where he provided financial advisory, M&A, investment and divestiture analysis, market & launch strategy, and CFO services to companies and private equity firms.  Stewart was previously an entrepreneur-in-residence at Sevin Rosen Funds and the first-ever entrepreneur-in-residence at August Capital.

Stewart holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Tufts University, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Richard has held numerous Chief Financial Officer positions, most recently for eASIC Corporation, a private, venture backed fabless semiconductor company, where he was responsible for all Financial, Legal, Human Resources and IT functions. Richard partnered with the CEO and Board to complete a preferred financing round, file the Company’s S-1 registration, and completed the Company’s sale to Intel in August, 2018.

His expertise also includes experience with high-growth, venture-backed startups such as Polycom, where he was Vice President of Finance and Treasurer from its days as a start-up through the achievement of $500 Million in Revenue. Richard was also SVP, Finance and CFO at Fujitsu America, responsible for all Financial, Compliance and IT functions. Before that, he was VP Finance and CFO for Brocade Communications Systems, a publicly traded Fortune 500 company. 

Richard has an MBA from San Jose State University and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Iowa State University.

Mike has extensive experience in life sciences, from the perspectives of an industry executive, equity analyst and investment banker. He has developed and implemented strategy for a broad range of companies, and has executed a wide variety of transactions including IPOs and other equity financings, debt financings, non-dilutive structured funding, M&As, and licensing agreements.

Mike was the Chief Business Officer for Innoviva, a pharmaceutical company, where he led all corporate development activities and advised on investor relations and strategy. Previously, Mike worked in business development at Forest Laboratories, sourcing and executing deals with growing biotech companies to fund and develop pipeline programs, and at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, performing long-term financial planning.

Prior to this, Mike worked at Wells Fargo and at Credit Suisse, covering stocks in the pharmaceutical industry. Previously as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, Mike executed a wide range of transactions, across all sectors of healthcare including biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, payers and providers.

Mike holds a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, a Master of Science in Civil Engineering, with Stanford Dean’s Fellowship from Stanford University, and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, with Honors with Distinction from Columbia University.