If you’ve had a Business and Technology class at Northeast, it’s likely that Dr. Wade Herley had a hand in making sure the students and faculty have what they need to make it an effective learning experience. Dr. Wade Herley is the Dean of Business and Technology here at Northeast Community College. As Dean, Herley is in charge of managing the faculty in the B&T department and finding the many resources needed to keep up with today’s changing technology.

Herley enjoys working with students. He says the most enjoyable part of his job would probably be “the new challenges that come through the door every day”. He is also the advisor for the Northeast Community College chapter of SkillsUSA. Herley has tried to build it up in a way that doesn’t take away from any other clubs on campus. Herley says “SkillsUSA is an excellent forum to give our best students the opportunity to compete against the best students in Nebraska and the best students in the nation. The message the students get from the opening and closing ceremonies is unparalleled. It is a message of taking pride in yourself, your country, and your work.”

Herley got his undergraduate degree in business administration at Wayne State College, and then got his masters and doctorate degree at the University of South Dakota. He says that his business courses and professional experience really helped to prepare him for this job. Herley says juggling his work with his family life is not easy. “I had seen a lot of people who were in leadership positions that really worked a lot of hours and gave up that family time that they’ll never get back.”

Herley loves it in Nebraska but, if he had to live anywhere else, he would live in Montana. He likes Montana because of the “wide open spaces and the mountains”. If you asked Herley when he was five years old what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would have told you he wanted to be a semi-truck driver. Whether he would have been a truck driver or not, Northeast Community College appreciates all the hard work that Dr. Herley does for our school.