As part of Burton’s ongoing initiative to be the employer of choice and brand of choice for women, the company held their 3rd bi-annual Burton Women’s Leadership Day this week, at the beautiful Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes, Vermont. The brainchild of Burton’s President Donna Carpenter, the event was created as a forum to encourage Burton women to succeed by giving them the development and guidance they need to become Burton’s next leaders.
“We created Burton Women’s Leadership Day to help harness and elevate the amazing pool of talent we have among our female employees,” stated Donna Carpenter, President of Burton Snowboards. “A diverse and balanced workplace is more crucial than ever in today’s marketplace, and at Burton it is a huge initiative to not only engage our women, but also provide them with the tools they need to help them reach their maximum potential here. It was an inspiring day.”
Overlooking picturesque Lake Champlain, the event was attended by over 100 female Burton employees from all levels in the company. The agenda was filled with speakers, panels, workshops, morning yoga, paddle boarding and more, all centered around the theme of leadership. Burton invited leaders from within Burton and outside of the company to speak about their paths and share insights of success, including an extremely powerful and animated keynote address byJill Layfield, CEO of Backcountry.com. It was a day of education, empowerment and career building, and a key example of Burton’s commitment to the growth and development of its women. Based on its success, planning is already underway for the 4th edition.
About the Burton WLI (Women's Leadership Initiative)
The WLI is a dedicated committee of women from each Burton department who focus on a simple goal: making Burton the employer and brand of choice for women. Founded by Burton President, Donna Carpenter, the WLI got started about 10 years ago after Burton Founder and CEO, Jake Burton, was in a Directors meeting where only 3 out of 25 attendees were women. Jake immediately realized there was a problem how could Burton attract the best talent and come up with the most innovative ideas if we were missing half the pool? So with Donna at the helm, the WLI was born, and set out to make concrete changes to Burton's culture, with the goal of recruiting, retaining and advancing more women at Burton.
Since the WLI committee was formed, it has created numerous programs and policies that have positively impacted both women and men in the work place. As Donna said in a 2011 interview, “Advancing women is not a feel-good or do-good initiative, it really is a bottom-line initiative getting more women into the workforce isn't only smart business, it's critical for the future of the business.”
