Burns/Kolben Group at Morgan Stanley

For over 40 years, Josh has helped clients with significant wealth meet a variety of complex needs. His clients face challenges that go far beyond investing, to encompass such disciplines as estate and business succession strategies, non-traditional investing, risk and liquidity management, and philanthropy. He has structured his career accordingly, pursuing credentials that enable him to offer a broad array of experience, knowledge, and relevant solutions.

As a Morgan Stanley Family Wealth Director for Northern New England, Josh has met rigorous criteria that has prepared him to help address the many complexities surrounding exceptional wealth. This designation allows him to provide clients with access to resources unavailable to most Financial Advisors - resources that enable Josh to approach your finances comprehensively, so that all the strategies we formulate together truly work in concert toward your most important goals.

Josh a graduate of Colby College with a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics. Josh, his wife Susan and their two children have lived in Falmouth for over twenty years. They enjoy boating on Casco Bay, golf, skiing and tennis.

As a testament to Josh's commitment to his clients, quality of service and the personalized solutions that he provides, Josh has been the recipient of numerous industry awards. From 2014 through 2023, Josh was recognized by Barron's Magazine as a Top 1200 Financial Advisor. From 2018 through 2023, he was recognized by Forbes as a Best In-State Wealth Advisor. From 2017 through 2020, he was named to the Top 400 Financial Advisors by the Financial Times.



2018-2023 Forbes Best-In- State Wealth Advisors
Source: Forbes.com (Awarded 2018-2023). Data compiled by SHOOK Research LLC based 12-month time period concluding in June of year prior to the issuance of the award.

2014-2023 Barron's Top 1,200 Financial Advisors: State-by-State (formerly referred to as Barron's Top 1,000 Financial Advisors: State-by-State)
Source: Barrons.com (Awarded 2014-2023). Data compiled by Barron's based on 12-month period concluding in Sept of the year prior to the issuance of the award.

2017-2020 Financial Times 400 Top Financial Advisors
Data compiled by the Financial Times based the following time periods:
Awarded 2020; data 6/30/16 - 6/30/19
Awarded 2019; data 6/30/15 - 6/30/18
Awarded 2018; data 6/30/15 - 6/30/17
Awarded 2017; data 9/30/14 - 9/30/16

For almost two decades Eric has worked alongside individuals, families, and their trusted advisors to solve for their most complex financial planning and wealth management needs. As a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP^®), Eric strives to truly understand his clients as individuals and to help them realize their financial aspirations. As a Certified Exit Planning Advisor™ (CEPA^®), Eric collaborates with business owners to navigate their business transition journey with a focus on developing effective liquidity strategies.

Eric’s experience in the financial industry began shortly after college as a Commercial Loan Officer where he was responsible for analyzing small business balance sheets and the personal finances of business owners. Subsequently, Eric left banking and worked with several small business startups and further honed his financial acumen. This valuable experience is what led Eric to Morgan Stanley and is the foundation of his financial guidance with clients.

Dedicated to his local community, Eric currently sits on the Board of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. He is a past President of Winterkids as well as the Southern Maine Jewish Community Alliance where he helped the organization realize a new headquarters. A graduate of Hartwick College, Eric ultimately settled in Maine and resides in Cumberland Foreside with his wife, two sons, and their dog, Maverick. In his free time, Eric enjoys skiing at Sugarloaf, mountain biking, surfing, playing golf, fishing, and boating with friends and family as well as traveling to watch his youngest son play college baseball.

A skilled and qualified professional with Morgan Stanley since 1998, Joni handles account opening, maintenance, service and administration issues for an elite group of clientele. She is licensed and strives to deliver the highest level of service possible to the clients, while helping them achieve their goals.

A life-long resident of Maine, Joni graduated from Thomas College with both Business Management and Travel and Tourism degrees. She, along with daughter, Haley, live in Gorham, Maine. Joni enjoys spending her free time exercising, and supporting many animal welfare organizations throughout her community.

Cathy brings invaluable experience and support to our team to ensure our clients receive excellent service. She holds her Series 7, 66, 9 and 10 licenses. She also holds her Maine and New Hampshire Insurance licenses. In her free time, Cathy enjoys running, skiing and spending time with her family on the seacoast.

An experienced professional with Morgan Stanley since 2000, Kris focuses on delivering investment due diligence, risk-reward analysis and investment manager analysis to a select group of clients. He received his Consulting Group Analyst designation in 2004 and continues to design, implement and monitor portfolios to help clients achieve their long-term goals. Kris currently holds his Series 7, 63, 65 and Insurance licenses. Born and raised in Maine, Kris graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and a minor in Finance.

Kris and his wife, April, and daughters, Sydney and Ava, reside in Limington, Maine. When out of the office, Kris enjoys coaching his children's sports teams and stays active in health and fitness.

Christopher J. Smith leads Morgan Stanley’s Trust Services Group and serves as a Senior Trust Specialist covering the Morgan Stanley offices in New England, upstate New York, Long Island and parts of Eastern Pennsylvania. Within the Trust Services Group, Chris is responsible for maintaining its “Open Architecture” trustee platform, which consists of several unaffiliated third-party bank trust companies who can serve in a fiduciary, agency or custodial role for ultra-high-net-worth client trust accounts. Chris and the Trust Services Group help Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors, clients, prospects and the professional community understand the third party corporate trustee services available through Morgan Stanley and how our corporate trustee partners can be used to provide fiduciary solutions for clients. This involves reviewing trust document and statements as well as analyzing family dynamics. Chris then uses this information to help the client select one or more of the Firm’s third-party corporate trustee partners to possibly serve as trustee, co-trustee or administrative agent for a client trust account.

Chris has over 30 years of experience in the Financial Services industry and has been with Morgan Stanley since 1993. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley (Dean Witter), Chris worked in the Retirement Plans department of Prudential Securities and prior to that the District Agency department of Prudential Insurance Company. Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication/Journalism and Psychology from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY. He lives in Saratoga Springs, NY with his wife Sharon and two boys, Ryan and Michael and has a passion for golf, skiing and horse racing.