Mr. Burns, a business attorney, entrepreneur and philanthropist, is currently chairman and president of BF Enterprises, Inc., San Francisco. He is the former chairman and CEO of Boothe Financial Corp. and of Robert Half International. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he was a partner at several leading law firms in San Francisco. Mr. Burns is a life trustee of the American Ireland Fund as well as the founder and principal benefactor of the John J. Burns (named for his father) Library of Rare Books and the director of Special Collections at Boston College. He has served on the boards of major corporations, including the Kendall-Jackson Winery, Inc. (Santa Rosa, CA), the Kellogg Company, the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of New York, the United States Banknote Corporation, and on the boards of many professional, governmental and charitable organizations, including the Irish American Fulbright Commission.