We are a team-owned business that prides itself on being trusted advisors to the companies we serve. Our founder, Jon Burke, has one of the most respected and prolific careers in bank M&A in the nation. He has served on more successful M&A assignments than anyone in the industry, doing so with great care for each client. Our core values of honesty, attention to detail, and deep consideration for our client’s goals are an extension of his legacy and are embodied in the team below.
Leadership Team
Managing Partner
Jon Burke
Jon founded and built one of the country’s top-ranked advisory firms – Burke Capital. It became the preeminent bank advisory firm for nearly fifteen years in the Southeast, being well known as having unequalled access to most of the leaders of the banking industry. Prior to founding Burke Capital, Jon was a senior officer at The Robinson Humphrey Company, where he led the banking and financial institution research effort. Jon played a critical role in assisting Robinson Humphrey’s various commercial banking offerings including corporate finance and trading. He was particularly known for assisting in bank M&A and capital assignments. Jon is considered one of the leading authorities on banking and financial institutions in the Southeast largely due to his role as advisor on key transactions in the market. Jon is a CFA and holds a BA in Business Administration from the University of Georgia and an MBA from Georgia State University.
Managing Partner
Drew Stelling
Drew has spent the majority of his career assisting community banks and other financial institutions and has been an integral member of The Burke Group since its founding. Prior to joining The Burke Group, Drew worked at Morgan Keegan, where he focused primarily on the Financial Institutions investment banking group. Drew also spent time in the Specialty Finance and General Industrials investment banking groups of Raymond James following its acquisition of Morgan Keegan. Drew received a BBA in Finance from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. Drew is also licensed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as an Investment Banking Representative (Series 79) and a Uniform Securities Agent (Series 63).
Managing Director
Roger Powell
Roger has assisted community and regional banks, specialty finance companies, and their strategic vendors in a wide variety of financing and corporate development transactions over the past 40 years. As the founder of Roger G. Powell LLC, he led consulting and investment banking projects for the company. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director with Janney, Deutsche Bank Securities, and Alex. Brown & Sons. He received a BA in Economics from Davidson College and the Advanced Management Certificate from the North Carolina School of Banking at Chapel Hill. He is licensed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as a supervisor (Series 9/10 and Series 24).
Senior Vice President
Adam Gardner
Adam joined The Burke Group in 2016. He received a BBA in Finance from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia and earned his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2020. Adam is also licensed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as an Investment Banking Representative (Series 79) and a Uniform Securities Agent (Series 63).