Burkland’s core purpose is to Accelerate Dreams. So often, turning dreams into reality helps change the world. We thrive at the forefront of this transformation.
Startups desire our professionals — they are the best in the business. Startups seek our content — we are the industry thought leader. Startups trust our expertise — founders can focus on their unique value-add.
Because of our demonstrated value, our clients have raised $11.2B+.
Jeff Burkland is the founder and CEO of Burkland. Founded in 2004, under his leadership, the company has steadily grown and provides finance cover to 700+ startups across the USA.
Jeff brings over 25 years of strategic and tactical financial management experience and business leadership, in both the corporate world and startups, to Burkland. He is an expert in business planning, fundraising, financial modeling, management, strategic planning, and process improvement.
Most importantly, Jeff is known to Burkland clients for his help in building their businesses and his innovative thinking.
Before founding Burkland, Jeff co-founded CRC Results, a financial consulting firm that provided Sarbanes-Oxley, Internal Audit, and Strategic Finance advice and services. He grew the company to over 40 consultants, leading Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 efforts for several large- and small-cap telecommunications and financial services clients.
Jeff played a key role in the development of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance methodology for a multi-billion dollar communications company which was among the first firms in the world to successfully attain certification of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404.
Jeff received an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Economics from Duke University, graduating Summa Cum Laude.
Marc Zablatsky is the Managing Director of Burkland’s CFO practice and leads Burkland’s Consumer Group. He joined Burkland in 2017 and has also applied his entrepreneurial passion as a fractional CFO experience for numerous clients across multiple verticals. Over his career, he has helped raise in excess of $200M for the company’s he has worked with.
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.
Marc holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a B.S from Babson College where he obtained three majors in Finance, Economics, and Marketing, and graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Joanna Coleman, CPA, is the Managing Director of Burkland’s Bookkeeping & Accounting Group. She has been part of the core management team of many startups, both private and public, over her 20+ year career. She excels in both strategic and tactical initiatives which are highly effective in moving companies forward to achieving their goals.
Joanna has helped raise over $100m+ for startups in non-dilutive and equity financing rounds. She is well versed in board and investor relations as well as corporate governance. Joanna is a certified public accountant and received a bachelor’s degree in business economics with an emphasis in accounting from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Ardy brings more than 15 years of diverse tax, accounting, finance, and business consulting experience to his role as head of the Tax Practice at Burkland.
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, Controller, and Tax Accountant.
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 Master of Taxation (MST) and Bachelor of Business Administration in Corporate Accounting and Finance from San Jose State University.
Sara Schrage is Burkland’s Chief People Officer and Managing Director of Strategic People Operations. Prior to Burkland, Sara was Global Vice President of Splice Machine, a real-time Machine Learning and AI Solutions company. She led People Operations and Recruiting for companies including PowerReviews (acquired by Bazaarvoice), BigFix (acquired by IBM), Wrap Media, Mode Media, and Samsung, and was the owner of Search Solutions Group, a full-service HR and recruiting firm helping early-stage tech startups for ten years. Sara received her undergraduate degree from Miami University, completed Cornell University’s Human Resource Executive program, and is SHRM-SCP, SPHR-CA and SPHR certified. She is an advisor for People Tech Partners, Startup Experts, and Bizly.
Walt Spevak has over 30 years of business experience having worked with both startups and public companies, for-profits and nonprofits, ranging in size from two-pizza teams to multi-thousand employees.
Prior to Burkland, Walt spent nearly 2 decades at Autodesk in various corporate roles as it grew from less than 100 people and $9M in revenue to nearly 3,000 employees and almost $1B in revenue when he left to begin angel investing in the start-up world.
At Burkland, Walt was the Managing Director of the CFO Services practice for over ten years and continues to contribute to the team as the Healthcare practice lead. Walt holds both a BA in Economics with honors and an MBA from Stanford University. Outside of Burkland Walt is an avid sailor, racing Laser dinghies in national and international competitions. Ask him anytime about growing up at Lake Okoboji, IA.
D.J. Marini is a Founding Partner at Burkland having built Burkland’s accounting practice. He has over 28 years of experience in business optimization and developing scalable business and accounting systems. Prior to joining Burkland, D.J. founded and served as CFO/Controller for an international professional services company and worked as General Manager of Lucasfilm LTD.
D.J. now uses this experience to provide Burkland clients with the resources they need to develop efficient and scalable financial systems, staffing, policies and procedures. D.J. holds a BS in Business Management from San Francisco State University.
Bree Hanson’s interest in sales and business development followed her from her early pharmaceutical career to her transition into tech, and consumed her once she started working with startups. Now Head of BD at Burkland, she fuses her knowledge of sales processes, relationship management, and networking to build value for the Burkland partnership network and the Venture Capital community. Bree holds a B.S. in International Studies from Brigham Young University.
Kate Adams is the Vice President of Marketing at Burkland. Kate has over 20 years of marketing experience and has built and managed the marketing function at several startups. Kate specializes in building a high ROI around marketing that includes thought leadership, market positioning and lead generation campaigns. Kate began her career at brand heavyweights Franklin Resources, Visa, and United Business Media, learning the fundamentals of marketing. Kate is the host of Burkland’s podcast, Startup Success, Editor of the Smarter Startup blog, and participates in industry conferences, podcasts, and events as a marketing speaker. Kate holds a BS in Business Marketing from the University of San Francisco – Magna cum laude.
Our core values guide how we run Burkland and how we interact with our clients, partners, and each other.
We apply fresh perspectives, curiosity and industry leading ideas to create breakthroughs. We place ourselves at the leading edge of our industry and support innovative approaches, such as the smart use of technology. We share our extensive knowledge and ideas, which helps to create new and improved solutions.
As experts with significant background in the startup ecosystem, we share in the experiences of our clients, partners, and teammates. We can relate to their point of view. Understanding their frame of reference improves how we support and interact with others. We help keep perspective and seek to infuse personality and fun into our role.
We take the time to understand the central issues and pain points in order to craft solutions that address core challenges. We have the experience, expertise and relationships to drive significant results. We push ourselves to continually expand the boundaries of success, ask tough, probing questions, and perform hard-hitting work. We add meaningful value through our interactions with stakeholders, including clients, VCs, and service provider partners.
As a trusted partner, we identify and deliver the sometimes hard truth in a candid manner that is forthright and constructive. We are accessible, reliable, and respectful. Integrity is central to our ethic, which results in building long-term trust. You can count on us.