Burke & Herbert Financial Services Corp. announced that as of May 1, 2026, Carl Lundblad, the current president of LINKBANCORP Inc., joined Burke & Herbert and Burke & Herbert Bank as Chief Operating Officer, the principal operating officer of Burke & Herbert. Mr. Lundblad, age 55, has served as LNKB's President since 2019.
He was also the Chief Risk Officer from 2019 until May 2024. Mr. Lundblad has more than 25 years of strategic, legal and operational leadership experience in the financial services industry, including as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Administrative Officer of Susquehanna Bancshares Inc. from 2012 to 2015, up to and including the successful acquisition of Susquehanna by BB&T Corporation (now Truist Financial Corporation). Prior thereto, he served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Graystone Bank and Tower Bancorp Inc. from 2007 to 2012.
Previously, he was a partner and manager of the Banking & Securities practice at the law firm of Rhoads & Sinon LLP. From 2016 to 2019, Mr. Lundblad served as Chief Executive Officer of Ten Thousand Villages, a nonprofit fair-trade retail and wholesale organization. Brent Smith, the President of Link, joined Burke & Herbert Bank as Executive Vice President, Pennsylvania Market Leader.
At the Effective Time, the previously disclosed employment agreements with each of Mr. Samuel, Mr. Lundblad and Mr. Smith became effective. Joseph Hager, the current Chief Operating Officer of Burke & Herbert and Burke & Herbert Bank, will no longer serve as Burke & Herbert's principal operating officer. Mr. Hager's employment with Burke & Herbert and Burke & Herbert Bank will continue in his new role of Chief Operations Officer.
Immediately prior to the Effective Time, the Burke & Herbert board of directors amended and restated Burke & Herbert's bylaws to remove the range of the number of directors that may serve on the board and permit the board of directors to establish, increase, or decrease the number of directors, subject to and in accordance with the Burke & Herbert's articles of incorporation, as amended. The board also increased the size of the board to seventeen directors. Burke & Herbert announced the appointment of Kirtan Parikh as its Executive Vice President, effective July 1, 2026.
Mr. Parikh?s appointment is in conjunction with the previously announced retirement of H. Charles Maddy, III as the President of Burke & Herbert and Burke & Herbert Bank, effective June 30, 2026, and the anticipated appointment of Roy E. Halyama, Burke & Herbert?s current Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, as the President of Burke & Herbert and Burke & Herbert Bank at the organizational meeting of the Board following the 2026 annual meeting of shareholders to be held on June 18, 2026. Mr. Parikh, age 44, is an accomplished finance and accounting operations leader with over twenty years of professional experience. Mr. Parikh currently serves as Burke & Herbert?s Director of Strategy and served in the additional role of Interim Chief Accounting Officer from December 3, 2024 to April 21, 2025.
Mr. Parikh previously served as Burke & Herbert?s Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer from April 6, 2021 until the merger of Burke & Herbert and Burke & Herbert Bank with Summit Financial Group Inc. and Summit Community Bank Inc., respectively, which occurred on May 3, 2024. From 2015 to 2021, Mr. Parikh was a senior manager at Deloitte. In addition, Mr. Parikh spent two years at the Office of the Comptroller of Currency in Washington, DC as a Professional Accounting Fellow.
He is a graduate of Boston University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with concentrations in Finance and Accounting and minor in Economics. He also completed the Chief Strategy Officer Program from Wharton Executive Education in June 2025. He is a Certified Public Accountant in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
In accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement, and as previously disclosed, as of the Effective Time, the Burke & Herbert board of directors appointed current LNKB directors Diane Poillon and Kristen Snyder to the board of the surviving corporation as the LNKB Continuing Directors. Additional details concerning the appointment of Mses. Poillon and Snyder as the LNKB Continuing Directors and biographical information related to the LNKB Continuing Directors can be found in the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by Burke & Herbert with the SEC on March 13, 2026, and are incorporated by reference herein.
