Donna Carpenter
Owner of Burton & Chair of the Chill Board of Directors
Donna met Burton’s founder, Jake Burton Carpenter in a Southern Vermont bar on New Year’s Eve 1981. Ever since, she’s been a driving force at the world’s leading snowboard company. Her first job included dipping snowboards in polyurethane and answering the customer service line that rang in the bedroom. In the mid 1980s, Donna expanded Burton’s business to Europe and ran the company’s first international office in Innsbruck, Austria. In 2003, Jake asked Donna to make Burton a brand of choice and employer of choice for women. Thanks to Donna’s leadership, Burton now has progressive parent policies, mentoring programs and more women in leadership roles. In 2010, Donna stepped up to the role of President, and then in 2016 went on to become Burton’s first female CEO. In February 2020, Donna became the Chair of the Burton Board of Directors, a position formerly held by her late husband and Burton founder, Jake Burton Carpenter who passed away in November of 2019 due to complications from recurring cancer.
Today, Donna inspires Burton to root the company’s work in a greater purpose. She invests in sustainability efforts and advocates for more diversity on the mountain and in boardrooms. As a founder and Co-Chair of the non-profit youth development organization Chill, she is dedicated to the organization’s mission of inspiring young people through boardsports and building a more equitable outdoor community. Under her ownership, Burton commits $2M of profits annually to support values-aligned organizations doing work that positively impacts people, planet, and the sport of snowboarding.
Donna and her three sons George, Taylor and Timi do their best to live by Jake’s motto of having as much fun as possible while keeping the world’s leading snowboard company a family-owned brand.
