James Walker Burns is partner and head of Institutional Client Solutions Americas at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR). Prior to joining KKR, Burns was a managing director in the Private Wealth Management Division of Morgan Stanley, where he worked for nearly 13 years and held a variety of positions, departing as head of the eastern United States for Private Wealth Management.

Burns is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Emory, where he was an NCAA All-American tennis player, and he holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He serves as a member of the board of trustees for the Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York and for the Harvard Business School Club of New York. He is a former member of the Emory College Alumni Board and a former trustee of the McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee.