Biography

I have been a professor at the Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, since 2007, and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution since 2018.  I grew up amidst wheat fields on the border of Washington and Idaho, the grandson of dust bowl refugees. I studied economics, mathematics, and music at the University of Puget Sound before working as an industrial engineer at Boeing.

I completed a Ph.D at the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley in 2005. I likely still hold the record for the most consecutive failed years (4) attempting to secure a tenure-track position in Strategy.

I am currently Chief Academic Advisor of CivicScience, Behavioral Science Advisor for Maritz, LLC, and Chief Behavioral Strategist at Atlas Point, LLC.

I currently live with my wife Vincenza and our son Carlo in St. Louis..  My brother Forrest is a professor of music composition at the University of Kansas and the 2012 winner of the Barlow Prize. You can hear his work (and offer him commissions) here.

Contact me at pierce@wustl.edu or fill out a form here.