At Burton Snowboards, Passion Meets Profession for These Gulls

After graduation, a few lucky Gulls flocked further north to Vermont and found interesting, creative, and fulfilling careers at Burton Snowboards, where moving from snow-covered slopes to cozy office spaces is all in a day’s work.

Ever seen a Gull snowboard?

A few can, at least. And they’ve found the perfect place to do it—the winter wonderland of Burlington, Vt., home to one of the founding brands of modern snowboarding, Burton. 

With careers that allow them to move from snow-covered slopes to cozy office spaces, several Endicott alumni have found the perfect balance at Burton that came from turning a hobby into a career.

“I work with an incredible group of people that are dedicated, passionate about what they do, and fun to spend time with,” said Lindsay Colburn ’11. “I’m continuously inspired by the creativity and innovation here.”

After graduation from Endicott with a degree in interior architecture and design, Colburn drove cross-country to work as a whitewater rafting guide in New Mexico before coming to Vermont, where she decided she wanted to put down roots.

“Merging my love for the outdoors, exploring, and my design background became the drivers of my path,” Colburn shared. Last year, she joined Burton as Creative Project Manager on the Global Brand Creative team, managing the creative development process and projects for brand campaigns.  

Hillary Sherman Van Hauer ’04 is a Senior Global Marketing Manager for the Burton sub-brand Anon, where she leads the marketing team and sets the global marketing strategy. For her, working at Burton is the realization of a goal she set when she was 15.

“I told my parents that I was going to get a job in the snowboarding industry, and they thought I was crazy,” Van Hauer said. “At the time, it wasn’t really a thing and there weren’t a lot of women doing it. Every project I did in college had some kind of snowboard component—they probably thought I was so annoying!”

Van Hauer’s dedication quickly paid off; by October of her graduating year, she’d taken a seasonal position at Burton answering customer service calls. Four months later, a role opened up on the resort programs team and she moved to a full-time staff member—the start of a 14-year run in that department.

“It’s a unique job that doesn’t exist anywhere else, really,” she explained. 

The team’s focus was growing the sport of snowboarding by selling beginner rental gear and through partnerships with resorts to run snowboarding programs. Van Hauer’s role included traveling to resorts all over the world, leading marketing for that segment of the Burton brand, and ultimately focusing on getting families into snowboarding together.

Now, Van Hauer’s team includes other female snowboarders with similar passions. 

“Not only do I get to travel to some really beautiful places and do what I love, I also just love spending time with my team—they’re amazing,” she said.

Director of Business Operations Jeff Lallier ’08 also got his Burton start in a seasonal position. As the company grew and transitioned from a traditional seasonal winter brand to a four-season brand, many seasonal winter employees were asked to come on full-time. Lallier said yes, and for the next 15 years moved up the ranks to ultimately land his current position, where he manages retail and wholesale business operations in North and South America.

While at Endicott, Lallier studied sport management, played four years of hockey as a Gull, and knew he wanted to work in winter sports.

“Back then, Burton basically said, ‘Hey, do you love snowboarding culture? We want you here,’” he said. “Now we just want people who fit the roles and are passionate about outdoor sports in general. We attract a larger variety of outdoor sports enthusiasts—we call them ‘radical outsiders’—for both employees and consumers.”

When Lallier first started, Burton was a wholesale business with no direct-to-consumer sales outside of a few flagship stores. Over the years, he’s watched as the brand sought to find the sweet spot between leading in the snowboarding market and getting into a wider range of products like bags, apparel, and soft goods, where competitors include larger brands like Patagonia, Nike, and North Face.

“We’ve been redefining our identity as an outdoor brand,” he said. “We dominate the snowboarding space, so the real opportunity for growth is in those other areas where we are a small fish in a big pond. I love that we get to play in both those spaces.”

Haley Noel ’21 said working at Burton has reignited her obsession with snowboarding. 

“Being in this industry and around people every day who share the same love for snowboarding as me has inspired me to get out on my board so much more,” she explained. “I’m lucky to work with so many people who share that passion and I’ve made a lot of good friends.”

A bioengineering major at Endicott, Noel now works as a Summit Guide and a supervisor for the customer service team, after starting at Burton just a few months after graduation. She said the workplace culture is about as fun as you’d imagine.

“You’re allowed to bring dogs into the office—that free therapy is key when you’re working in customer service,” she shared with a laugh. “Community is a big part of working here so there are all kinds of events like costume parties at Halloween. We just had our Winter Jam, where we hosted a friendly competition with drinks and food. It’s one of my favorite events.”

For Gulls looking to find that next-level job they love, Colburn suggested exploring what brings joy and listening to the answer. 

“See when your intuition says ‘yes,’” she advised. “Be open to unexpected and new experiences, career moves, and skills that align with that—what you’re looking for may be something you’ve never heard of before.”

Noel said her time at Endicott helped prepare her to battle impostor syndrome as a young professional.

“Being a tutor, having to find internships, and leading the Environmental Society were all things that pushed me out of my comfort zone,” she explained. “I’m glad I took on the challenges I did when I was in school because it’s made me much more prepared to face the real world with my head on straight.”

Van Hauer, a visual communications major, attributed her job at Burton to decisions supported by her advisor who recommended Van Hauer take marketing classes to help create the purpose behind her artistic designs.

“Having an advisor who was paying attention was huge,” Van Hauer said. “I was so lucky to find her and have her help get my path on track—she even did an independent study with me on brand identity.”

Lallier’s memories of Endicott include much of what the ice hockey team experienced as a brand-new program—still a club team at the time—like basement locker rooms and the knowledge that they were building a foundation for what the team would become in the future. He said playing organized sports helped him form his work ethic.

“At Endicott, I learned how to prioritize and be very organized,” he shared. “If you showed up and you made an effort, you’d be rewarded for it in lessons learned or opportunities granted. I carried that through school and into my professional life.”