Adam Burk serves as Executive Director of the Peter Alfond Foundation, an embedded placement through their role as a Director at Intentional Philanthropy. In this capacity, they lead strategic grantmaking built in close partnership with community leaders who know their contexts best, identifying needs together, and staying responsive as strategies evolve. This approach shapes the Foundation’s focus on Youth Thriving in Maine and Puerto Rico, and Food Security and Sovereignty in Puerto Rico.
Adam specializes in translating ambiguous, high-stakes challenges into structured, actionable strategy. In 2022, after discovering that nearly half of Maine’s middle and high school students reported feeling like they don’t matter, Adam led an effort to address this despite no foundation or government agency being holistically focused on this age group. The resulting strategy now guides $2 million in annual grants and has catalyzed more than $3 million in additional investment within two years.
Adam produces TEDxDirigo and serves on the boards of the Maine Philanthropy Center and Samara Strategies.