Third Generation Alumna Participates in Whitman Leadership Circle To Ensure Current Students Maximize Their Educational Experience

Jennifer L. Kreischer ’88 is a third-generation Syracuse University graduate, and her appreciation for her family’s legacy and the education in accounting she received at the Whitman School of Management has made a lasting impact on her. So much so, that she has given generously to Whitman both financially and with her time to ensure that today’s accounting students develop the same excitement for the field as she did. A member of the newly established Whitman Leadership Circle (WLC), Jennifer made her latest pledge to the Whitman School of Management’s Dean’s Fund, which provides critical resources to improve the student experience, fund student and faculty programs, and support experiential learning opportunities, career readiness and more.

Jennifer’s grandfather, John “Jack” L. Kreischer Jr. ’41, was the first in the family to attend Syracuse University, studying business. Her father, John “Jack” Kreischer III ’65, followed, studying accounting. There, he met her mother, Lynn Duncan Kreischer P’88, P’91, and, after graduating established his own accounting firm, Kreischer Miller, outside of Philadelphia. The couple had two children: Jennifer and her younger brother, Brian Kreischer ’91, who also chose to study accounting.

Jennifer was originally undecided on a major when she chose to attend Syracuse University. In the summers, she worked at her father’s firm and thought she might have a knack for accounting. “I also noticed that accounting majors were getting jobs,” she says. “And it seemed like a field that would allow me to see many different businesses, and I have enjoyed the variety ever since.” With her decision made, she transferred into the Whitman School.

Looking back, she has a great appreciation for the education she received at the then - School of Management, which she has paid forward by supporting the accounting department and serving as current chair and long-time member of the Joseph Lubin School of Accounting Advisory Board, something her father was also a member of when she was a student at Syracuse.

“My professors left a profound impact on me and helped me envision what I could actually be doing in a career in accounting,” she explains. “That’s why it’s important to me to support the Whitman School, so that today’s students can have the opportunities they need to seek out all the options that are available to them.”

After graduating, Jennifer took a job at PwC in its Philadelphia office and worked her way up to partner. In 2011, she joined the firm founded by her father. She is a director who leads teams in  operational and financial due diligence. Her father has since retired, but the company continues to thrive and is celebrating 50 years in business in 2025.

She has continued to stay closely connected to Whitman, visiting campus last November for an Accounting Advisory Board meeting—and snagging a few of the latest Syracuse sweatshirt styles for her nieces and nephews. She also represents the Whitman School off campus, joining Professor of Accounting Practice Kofi Okyere’s students when they visited New York City this January over winter break to teach part of a session and share some of the career options available in the field of accounting. In addition, she was part of the annual spring exploration trip to New York City in 2024 that the Accounting Advisory Board sponsors for those just finishing their first year at Whitman. The trip is aimed at showing students the breadth of what an accounting degree offers, not only at the Big 4 accounting firms, but  mid-sized firms and jobs in the private sector that are in accounting, finance and other areas.

Jennifer’s recent gift to the WLC is part of a long history of her generosity that includes the Beta Alpha Psi Tracy A. Halpin Memorial Fund, the Accounting Excellence Fund and the Whitman Graduate Accounting Fund.

“It’s important to me to pay it forward to a school and a program that has been so important to my life and three generations of my family,” she says of her gift and participation. “I had such a rich experience, and it gives me a lot of joy to stay connected and help students who are now in the program feel that same connection, too.”

By Caroline K.  Reff