Dr. Pierce was raised in Brazil where he was immersed in Brazilian and German cultures in the very southern part of the country until he was 15 years old. Dr. Pierce has 16 years of experience in higher education having served in non-traditional enrollment and advising during the early part of his university career, and more recently served as Division Chair of business and fulltime faculty of business where he also volunteered to serve as the international program liaison from 2018 to 2022. He currently serves as the Assistant Director of International Recruitment at University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) and is responsible for international admissions lifecycle, student recruitment, and international HEI partnership engagement and development. Dr. Pierce also teaches as an Adjunct Faculty for UIS in the College of Business and Management in the division of Marketing, Management, and Operations. He earned a PhD in Management, Leadership and Organizational Change from Walden University and published his dissertation titled “Leaders’ Strategies to Support and Accommodate Employees with High Functioning Autism”. An avid supporter of the neurodivergent population, he has presented on the topic of autism at UIS (ECCE Speaker Series; Employee Development Series), to the Decatur SHRM chapter, and to Sangamon CEO.