Burton on Wednesday announced that the company’s current president, John Lacy, will now share the CEO role with Burton’s co-owner and current CEO Donna Carpenter. The new co-CEO structure is a natural evolution for Carpenter and Lacy, who have run Burton in partnership for nearly three years.
“Jake and I have worked with John for over 20 years, and we trust him to take on more responsibility for running Burton day-to-day,” Carpenter said. “In the three years John has been president, he’s made a big impact on our business, brand and company culture. The timing for this new leadership structure is also ideal, as Jake and I will live in Europe next year to focus on our European business, which I helped establish over 30 years ago. With John proving to be a strong leader of Burton overall, I can focus even more on the areas where I contribute the most value.”
Donna Carpenter
Now that Carpenter and Lacy are sharing the CEO role, they will continue to work closely together to lead Burton. They have also identified individual areas of focus and a division of duties. Carpenter will continue to be deeply involved in the women’s market, customer insights and purpose-led marketing as well as initiatives surrounding Burton’s impact on the sport, the industry and the planet. With Europe as her home base this winter, Carpenter will also spend time gathering insights about all of Burton’s markets in the region. As co-CEO, Lacy will work with the executive team to develop and execute the company’s strategic priorities. He will also continue to oversee the day-to-day operations of Burton, including product, marketing, operations, finance and international divisions.
During his nearly three-year tenure as Burton’s president, Lacy has proven he is prepared to step up to a shared CEO role. He positioned the company for financial success by navigating Burton through an extremely challenging retail landscape and increasing efforts around direct-to-consumer opportunities. Carpenter and Lacy have also proven to be strong leadership partners, overseeing a very successful year for Burton with the company paying out 100 percent of its profit-sharing bonus and achieving its leanest inventory position in over a decade.
“To share the CEO role with Donna is a huge honor,” Lacy said. “As co-leader of the company that she and Jake founded, my number-one goal is respecting the heritage, sport and brand they’ve built over the past 40-plus years while positioning Burton for success for the next 40 years and beyond.”
