Alumnus Dickman is Saturday’s UW-Green Bay commencement speaker

Business entrepreneur and UW-Green Bay graduate Craig Dickman will deliver the commencement address when his alma mater holds its mid-year graduation ceremonies at 11:30 a.m. this Saturday (Dec. 14) at the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts.

At least 435 UW-Green Bay students are eligible to receive degrees. Chancellor Thomas K. Harden will preside at the ceremony, the 88th in school history since UW-Green Bay’s first semiannual commencement in spring 1970. Regent Mark Bradley of Wausau will bring greetings on behalf of the UW System Board of Regents. Student Amanda Reisenauer of Sheboygan, a double major in English and Spanish, has been chosen to deliver remarks on behalf of the graduating class.

Commencement speaker Dickman is a 1982 Business Administration graduate of UW-Green Bay. The founder, CEO and chief innovation officer for Breakthrough Fuel, he has won acclaim for his innovative approach to supply chain logistics and fuel cost management.

In less than a decade, Dickman’s Green Bay company has grown to become a partner to some of American industry’s leading brands. Prominent clients have included Procter & Gamble, Ace Hardware, Georgia-Pacific, John Deere, Polaris Industries, SCA Tissue and Shopko, among others. Only last month, Breakthrough Fuel received the prestigious “External Business Partner of the Year” designation from Procter & Gamble, an award honoring 15 companies selected from among the 82,000 suppliers and agencies with which P&G does business. Breakthrough Fuel has won similar corporate honors bestowed by Unilever and the Whirlpool Corporation.

The firm helps its clients analyze their fuel costs using advanced metrics and software, seeking ways to reduce shipping costs including the use of alternative fuels to cut both expenses and emissions. Dickman is the inventor responsible for two patents for energy management and has additional patents pending with the United States Patent Office.

Active in the greater Green Bay community, Dickman has served since 2012 as a member of UW-Green Bay’s Council of Trustees and Foundation Board. This past summer he was elected to the board of directors of the Green Bay Packers organization.

Dickman says his speech Saturday will draw upon his own experiences as a Northeastern Wisconsin native (he graduated from Southwest High School in 1978) who learned valuable lessons through UW-Green Bay’s interdisciplinary approach to problem solving. He’ll encourage the graduating seniors that, with confidence and creativity, and with the benefit of a solid education along with this region’s strong entrepreneurial culture, they can compete at the highest levels of their chosen fields.

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