Local business owner to address Opening Convocation
Lakeland graduate Eric Kriete will be the featured speaker during Opening Convocation on Thursday, September 4, at 11 a.m. in the Bradley Theatre.
A 1999 Lakeland graduate and entrepreneur who co-owns the popular Silver Fern Pub in Sheboygan, Wis., with his wife, Mandy, he will share some wisdom for students as Lakeland officially begins the academic year.
Kriete graduated from Lakeland with a bachelorās degree in business administration and assumed his career path was to work for the family business, a trucking company called The Kriete Group. While the money and status were great, he felt a different calling.
Called to adventure, Kriete visited New Zealand. Once there, extraordinary and remarkable things continuously happened to him, to the point where he knew that his life was sending him down a new, different path.
Now realizing his heart was pointed toward the service and hospitality industry, he found a bar in Sheboygan and called it The Silver Fern, which is the symbol and emblem of New Zealand, to pay homage to the trip that changed his life forever.
Kriete always finds his way back to his alma mater. A proud member of LUās Zeta Chi fraternity, he is an avid Lakeland supporter. He danced in the 2014 Movers & Shakers Gala and was a panelist at the 2022 Lakeland Business and Entrepreneurship Colloquium where he shared his journey and what he learned since that magical trip to New Zealand.
