Burton Snowboards Names Denny Bruce as New CEO

Burton Snowboards, the world’s largest and most famous snowboard company, recently named former employee Denny Bruce as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective Sep. 21. After years of working with various action sports brands, Bruce will now guide the premier snowboard, helmet, goggle, and outerwear company as it heads towards its 50th anniversary after Jake Burton founded the company in 1977.

Bruce succeeds Burton’s owner, Donna Carpenter, who has served as Burton’s interim CEO since June 2026, after longtime CEO John Lacy stepped down after 29 years. Carpenter, who was married to Jake Burton until he died in 2019, will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board.

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Bruce’s story at Burton began over two decades ago, when he served as Mid-Atlantic brand manager from 2003 to 2005. Throughout his career, he stayed in the snowboarding, action sports, and outdoors scenes, holding senior leadership positions at Vans, Skullcandy, and Traeger. Bruce also formerly served as Global Brand President of Dickies at VF Corporation, where he led the transformation of the 100-year-old brand across core and premium lifestyle channels. He most recently served as the CEO of Gonzey, where he took a European-focused direct-to-consumer company and turned it into a global online and offline channel brand.

Across his former roles, Bruce gained experience in wholesale and direct-to-consumer sales, global distribution, and brand management. He has worked with brands deeply connected to the snowboarding community and built them to become cultural icons in the sport.

At Burton, his job will be no different. His past work with Burton and other brands gave him a deep understanding of snowboarding culture, and for Carpenter, it made him stand out as a candidate.

“When we started this search, I knew we needed someone pretty unusual, someone who could lead and grow a global business, but who also deeply understood our culture, our values, our sport, and why protecting the heart and soul of this company matters so much,” Carpenter said in a Vermont Business Magazine article. “Denny doesn’t need to be taught what Burton means or why snowboarding matters. It’s already part of who he is. He loves what Burton is, believes in what we can become, and has the experience to get us there. He respects what it means to be rider-driven, and he understands that being family-owned is one of our greatest strengths. It’s hard to imagine a better next chapter.”

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Burton has long been the most recognizable brand in snowboarding, with its boards, bindings, boots, and other gear scattered on every mountain across the world. It’s hard to go a day on the mountain without seeing the iconic Burton mountain logo. As a new CEO heavily involved in the decision-making of the sport’s biggest brand, Bruce’s work will heavily determine the direction of Burton — and the snowboard community as a whole — for as long as he stays in the role.

But for Bruce, Burton is more than just a brand. It helped build snowboarding into what it is today, and its work could not have been done without the support of the snowboarding community.

“Burton is the steward of a sport so many of us have fallen in love with — a community born from people who chose to stand sideways and see fresh snowfall as a blank canvas,” Bruce said. There’s a deep bench here, and I’m looking forward to bringing what I’ve learned over the past two decades to help carry Burton into its next 50 years and to be an advocate for the community that has been foundational to everything I’ve done in my career. To come back to the company where my snowboarding career began, and to work alongside Donna mentoring the next generation, is incredibly meaningful to me.”

Bruce will now head to Burton’s headquarters in Burlington, Vermont, where he will begin his job in the next few weeks.