The Burgess Fine Arts Collection was established in 1969 in New York City as a fine art gallery dealership. It specializes in the sale of select international fine art works from the 19th century to the present for museum, corporate art buyers and serious art collectors.

William H. (Bill) Burgess, III, is founder/owner of The Burgess Group and he has extensive executive level experience in administration, curatorial and educational programming with major museums and cultural institutions. He began his career in the non-profit sector and held executive positions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Brooklyn Children's Museum, and The New York City Board of Education while teaching at Rutgers University. Thereafter, he held senior manufacturing management sales and marketing positions with Xerox, Steelcase, American Seating, and Gunlocke Companies. He owned and operated an office furniture, space planning and design dealership with offices in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County.

Bill was born and educated in Birmingham, Alabama. After attending Phillips Exeter Academy, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Lake Forest College and has studied art history in Italy and Egypt. He studied at the graduate level at Dartmouth's Tuck Business School, Xerox University and The American Management Association. He is former Chairman of the Board of Directors of The National Minority Business Council and serves on the Boards of 100 Black Men of New York City, Frates: An Ecuadorian Education & Healthcare Center. He formerly served on the Boards of The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Children's Art Carnival, The Feminist Press of The City University of New York, River View Towers Cooperative and Burgess Nursing Home. Bill is on the Board of Theatre for a New Audience and is a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Advisory Comittee on Cultural Engagement, National Minority Supplier Development Council, The NAACP, St. Paul United Methodist Church, Lake Forest College and Dartmouth's Tuck Alumni.