Herb Kierulff graduated with a BA in Economics from Stanford and subsequently managed two departments at Sears Roebuck. He returned to school at the University of Southern California earning an MBA and doctorate in Business Economics. Upon graduation, Security Pacific National Bank hired him as their Economic Research Department economist. Later, he moved to the technology division of TRW Inc. where, among other tasks, he helped manage a joint venture with a Canadian mining company, participated in the restructuring of his 650-person department, and worked with aspiring corporate entrepreneurs writing business plans.

Prior to his move to Seattle and SPU, Dr. Kierulff spent 10 years as a professor at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. While there, he and a colleague founded the first large-scale graduate entrepreneurship program in the world. Now the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, the program continues to rank among the best in the country. He received the Justin Dart Prize for this program and, in 1998, was named director emeritus.

During the 1998–2000 academic years, Dr. Kierulff was Visiting Professor at the Warsaw School of Economics in Poland. He has consulted on a part -ime basis throughout his career, mostly in the fields of business planning and turnaround management. His diverse clientele has ranged from inventors and entrepreneurs to managers at TRW and Microsoft, government agencies such as the U.S Department of Energy and the Small Business Administration, and educational institutions here and abroad.

Dr. Kierulff is currently a member of Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, the McKinsey Quarterly Panel, and is a reviewer for the Journal of Financial Education. While at SPU he has been the chair of Faculty Council, Faculty Budget Committee, Faculty Status Committee, and the University Committee to Evaluate the vice president of academic affairs. He has chaired numerous committees at the School of Business and Economics, including the committee that developed the original MBA Program and two Dean Search Committees.