History

John Burley has over 25 years of experience with arena design, manufacturing, and installation. He was the instrumental force behind the growth and development of Burley’s Rink Supply, Inc. from 1984 to 2004 with sales exceeding 9 million dollars annually and over 125 employees. Over this tenure he was directly involved with over 650 rink installations worldwide and has received more new ice rink patents than any other person. He also designed and built the Burley manufacturing complex and Planet Ice complex before selling the business in 2004. This 100,000 square foot complex featured some of the latest technology for its time when built in the year 2000.

John has written numerous industry papers regarding building and ice rink design aspects in addition to being a pioneer of energy conservation technologies. He also has an in-depth working knowledge of construction administration, construction law, accounting, building design, and ice rink design and manufacturing. 

Over his tenure he has had the opportunity to gather a prestigious client list such as the President of the United States, the Goodwill Games, the Asian Games, all of the major hockey leagues, including installation from private home rinks, to the largest arena facilities.

John maintains and is the primary contributor to ArenaWatch.org, a non-profit ice rink industry news and design resource for designers, builders, and operators.  He also has produced an extensive list of instructional design videos which take a builder through all of the unique elements of arena design.

Accomplishments:

With the support of the most esteemed coworkers at the time, development and design for products such as:

• Porta-Pipe Portable rink piping system
• Perma-Pipe permanent sand base mat system
• TurboChiller High performance rink chiller (of its day)
• Instrumental with development of the TurboChiller Graphic Microprocessor system.
• BatterBoard pultruded fiberglass in-line dasherboards
• Steel & aluminum framed dasher board systems
• Dasherflex safety feature
• Fast-Freeze concrete rink floor system
• The adhesive floor system design
• Design and construction of the former Burley plant and Planet Ice complex.
• Direct involvement with over 650 rink projects worldwide
• Drafted numerous written/published papers about ice rink design
• Created numerous ice rink design training videos showing arena construction for new developers

Patents & Trademarks:

Memberships & Awards:

• NEISMA Membership                                                                                

• Ice Skating Institute Membership

• OREA Membership

• Governor's Small Business Exporter of the Year 1994

• Governor’s Honorable Mention Award 1995