Mr. Burke formed J. Burke Capital Partners (“Burke Capital”) primarily to invest his personal capital. He is a Senior Partner and co-founder of Stonington Partners, Inc. (”Stonington”), a private investment firm managing $1 Billion in private equity investments in management-sponsored acquisitions. Stonington was formed in 1994 to manage institutional capital on behalf of public and corporate pension funds, private endowments and other financial institutions. Stonington is the successor fund to Merrill Lynch Capital Partners (“MLCP”), a private equity fund that managed $1.9 Billion of institutional capital in two successive partnerships that were originally formed in 1984. Mr. Burke was the co-founder of MLCP and served as its President and CEO from 1987 through 1994, at which time he formed Stonington and became MLCP’s Vice Chairman (through 2000). Over the past 25 years Stonington and MLCP have together sponsored over 50 management-led transactions. In addition to his activities at Stonington and MLCP, Mr. Burke is also a significant personal investor, including as General Partner and member of the Executive Investment Committee for Arena Capital Partners, a $212 million private equity fund, which Mr. Burke helped to form in 1999.

Mr. Burke is currently a Director of: Ann Taylor Stores Corporation, Lincoln Education Services Corporation, Roundabout Theatre Company, Brown University Sports Foundation, and John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations. He is also a member of the Brown University Board of Trustees and a Trustee of Seton Hall Preparatory School, his alma mater.
He earned an M.B.A. with distinction from the Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Brown University.

Mr. Lauerwald joined Mr. Burke in forming Burke Capital and has been engaged in private equity investing since 1997. Prior to helping form Burke Capital, Mr. Lauerwald was a Principal with Arena Capital Partners (“Arena”), a $212 million fund making private equity investments in lower and middle market companies. Prior to Arena, Mr. Lauerwald was an Associate Principal with Churchill Equity & Industrial Equity Partners, a $128 million fund specializing in private equity investments in the environmental and industrial sectors. In addition to traditional private investment related responsibilities, Mr. Lauerwald has also taken on longer-term, on-site, executive level operating responsibility and held Board of Director positions for various portfolio companies during his tenure in private equity.

Prior to 1997, Mr. Lauerwald worked as a strategy consultant for Mitchell Madison Group (U.S) and for Roland Berger & Partners (Germany), and as an engineer with Mannesmann AG (in the U.S. and Germany).

Mr. Lauerwald received his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S in Mechanical Engineering from Union College.