[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 10, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1355-S1356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO JAKE BURTON
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased to have the opportunity to
honor a dear friend and true entrepreneur, Jake Burton. As founder and
owner of Burton Snowboards, a company whose name has become synonymous
with the successes of this popular winter sport, Jake Burton has built
an empire from the ground up starting, first in his Londonderry, VT,
garage. His is a true tale of perseverance and triumph over obstacles
great and small; where others saw only insurmountable challenges, Jake
saw possibility.
As a young man starting out with a vision, Jake sought to set the
world of winter sports on fire. He did so in true Vermont fashion,
paying personal visits to ski areas hesitant to embrace snowboarding.
To this day, Jake makes a point of personally testing each of his
products on the slopes before putting them on the market. His
commitment to quality and his investment in his employees continues to
pay off. Jake recognizes the value of a homegrown company and takes
nothing for granted. His competitive edge and style set him apart from
the others in his line of work and serve him well as he continues to
define the future of snowboarding. Marcelle and I have been fortunate
to call Jake and his wife Donna our friends for many years. They are
admirable Vermonters and examples of how the pursuit of a dream through
honest hard work is still the cornerstone of American business.
On February 15, 2010, the Burlington Free Press published an article
entitled ``Jake Burton: Chairman of the (snow)Board'' about Jake's
career. I ask unanimous consent that the text of this article be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Burlington Free Press, Feb. 15, 2010]
Jake Burton: Chairman of the (snow)Board
(By Bruce Horovitz, USA Today)
His office has no desk. No inbox. Not even a wastebasket.
But it does have a sprawling wooden table for mounting
bindings onto snowboards, a sofa the size of a small living
room and a golden retriever named Maia, who's made the couch
her bed.
This is Jake Burton's life--a major cool one.
As the founder, cultural guru and chief prankster of the
world's largest snowboard company--and the guy who almost
single-handedly turned snowboarding into a multibillion-
dollar sport--he's got a lot to do. Like snowboard 100 days a
year. And surf for another 50, or so.
His mountaintop home in Stowe has an a outdoor hockey rink,
an indoor soccer field and a two-story treehouse with
electricity.
With the Winter Olympics under way in Vancouver, Burton
will soon join his team of Olympic snowboarders there and
probably cause a Burton-esque ruckus.
For one thing, the competition uniform Burton's company
designed for the U.S. snowboard team is raising eyebrows
before the torch is even lit. It's made from high-tech,
waterproof Gore-Tex material--but looks like a pair of ripped
blue jeans and a loose flannel shirt. Not necessarily what
buttoned-up Olympic officials had in mind.
``That the outfit has created a controversy is fitting,''
says Burton, 55, with a trademark smirk. ``If it's
unpatriotic, you should throw everyone wearing blue jeans and
flannel shirts out of the country.''
Still, the ride has been bumpy lately in snowboard land.
The sport of free spirits is under greater scrutiny since 22-
year-old Kevin Pearce, one of its stars and a Burton rider,
was almost killed in an accident while training for the
Olympics.
Even as Pearce heals, other problems for Burton's company--
and for all winter snow-sports businesses in this economy--
are festering.
Sales of winter sports equipment fell 8 percent last year,
and orders for 2010 are down 25 percent, reports the
SnowSports Industries America trade group. By one estimate,
nearly 10 small snowboard shops went belly-up every week in
2009. Although ski resort visits were up slightly overall for
the 2008-2009 season, several regions suffered steep
declines, and many resorts built visits with specials and
discounted lift tickets.
tough year
Burton Snowboards, the industry kingpin, saw sales fall by
double-digits last year and had to take the unusual step of
laying off nearly 20 of its roughly 1,000 employees last
March. The company announced last week it was laying off 15
more from its Burlington facility.
``Nothing like a tough year to make you forget how far
Burton has come,'' Burton said.
But even in a tough year, Burton Snowboards' success is
impressive. The privately held company holds 40 percent of
the world's snowboard market. Sales are not reported, but are
believed to reach almost $700 million.
Thanks to diversification into surfing and skateboarding
and the opening of several brand stores, Burton could be a $1
billion company within five years. ``I'm not hung up on that
number,'' said Burton, whose tousled salt-and-pepper hair
and red cheeks are evidence of the morning snowboard run
from which he's just returned. ``I'm not the kind of guy
who gets up every morning and says, `We have to get to $1
billion.' ''
Even non-snowboarders are becoming familiar with the brand.
The uber-presence of Burton boards and clothing in the 2006
Winter Games earned it an estimated $33 million in free
exposure. The company now makes more money selling apparel,
often to folks who've never been on a board, than it makes
from snowboard equipment.
But the Olympic participation is more about image than
sales, because the Games come at the tail of the season.
``The timing of the Olympics from a business perspective is
awkward,'' he says. ``You're not affecting consumer buying in
mid-February.''
Viewers who go gaga over the team's tattered-blue-jean look
won't be able to buy it. ``It would not be our style to sell
Olympic uniforms,'' Burton said. ``We, as a company, are not
about uniforms.''
What Burton, the company, is about is ``cool.'' While the
company is as synonymous
[[Page S1356]]
with snowboarding as Kleenex is with tissue, the hard part is
staying cool. It helps, Burton said, that Burton Snowboards'
decisions aren't dictated by Wall Street, ``but are made by a
guy and his family who snowboard 100 days a year.''
His leadership style includes traits such as:
He can't stand losing. Terje Haakonsen, a Burton athlete
widely regarded as the world's top snowboarder, says Burton
constantly challenges him at everything from snowboarding to
swimming. ``Jake just doesn't want to lose,'' he says.
He can't stand shoddy quality. During his 100 days of
snowboarding, Burton isn't goofing off. He tests most of the
company's equipment--from boards to gloves--before it goes to
market, and he makes detailed notes on index cards. Designers
wince when they receive one of the cards, Burton's CEO
Laurent Potdevin said. ``He has no patience for anything that
jeopardizes the riding experience.''
He can't stand boredom. One morning five years ago at a
sales meeting in New Zealand, Burton asked Dave Downing, who
does outside marketing for Burton, if he was up for surfing
and boarding--the same day. The two sneaked out of the
meeting and took a chartered helicopter to a beach to surf
then to a mountain to snowboard.
He can't stand leaving things alone. Burton will test any
product the design team sends him, says Chris Doyle, who
oversees product development. He was the first--and last--to
test pants with an internal fan ventilation system controlled
by a pocket switch. He gave the all-clear to a glove, a hot
seller this year, that comes with a beer-can holder. Even
after designers work months on new products, Burton has
turned them upside-down--or even nixed them--based on a
suggestion from a teenage boarder on a ski lift.
He can't stand serious. At a recent roundtable with top
executives and team riders, Burton broke it into ``a no-
holds-barred wrestling match,'' said Greg Dacyshyn, company
creative director. ``Jake will take on anyone at anything.''
He can't stand still. Shaun White, the Burton rider who is
an Olympic gold medalist and one of the U.S. team's great
hopes in Vancouver, says there's no stopping Burton on a
slope. ``When he's in the trees, he does ripping turns. He's
a wild man.''
He can't stand combs. Jake's wife, Donna, who helps run the
company and has been married to Jake for 22 years since
meeting him at a ski resort bar, remembers her mother's
comment after first meeting him: ``I don't think he combs his
hair.''
Inauspicious beginning
That he got this far in business surprises no one more than
the guy who was born Jake Burton Carpenter, but goes by just
Jake Burton. ``I was a punk. I got kicked out of boarding
school at 15.''
For one thing, he was a self-described ``loser'' in shop
class. But wanting to improve the design of ``Snuffer''
snowboards that were briefly popular when he was a kid, he
made a new kind of board in his Londonderry, Vt., garage.
He created his first business plan to sell snowboards on an
index card. He figured if he could make and sell 50 boards a
day, he'd be rich. He sold just 350 the entire first year and
ran up debt that nearly wiped him out.
But when he sold 700 boards the next year, he decided he
was onto something. Until the next setback, that is. His bank
cut off financing in 1984 when its executives decided
snowboarding was a passing fad.
He persevered, becoming a one-man cheerleading squad. He
visited hundreds of ski hills that had banned snowboarding,
trying to coax reluctant resort owners into allowing it. Many
equated snowboarding with rowdiness, or worse. But one by
one, they relented.
``He took on all the ski resorts,'' said John Horan,
publisher of Sporting Goods Intelligence newsletter. ``He's
absolutely the father of the sport.''
The sport has become so big that Burton Snowboards has
attracted acquisition interest from the sportswear giants.
Burton won't say who and insists, ``Everybody knows that
Burton is not for sale.''
The headquarters is in an industrial area here, a funky
building that looks more like a winter playground than a
workplace. There's a snowboarding park out front--with jumps.
Employees are free to use it at any time. Many workers are
accompanied by their dogs--they are encouraged to bring them
to work. Employees can warm up with company-supplied coffee
or hot chocolate at a giant, wood-burning fireplace in the
lobby.
Each also gets a free season lift pass to a nearby resort.
Anytime it snows more than 2 feet, the place shuts down and
everyone gets to go boarding.
There are worse things than to work for Jake Burton, but
there may not be many better.
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