Herta Neiss completed an apprenticeship as an office clerk and worked as a secretary until she graduated from secondary school. After studying business administration (Mag. 1995) and obtaining her doctorate (2001) with a focus on economic history, she initially worked in an auditing office (KPMG) until she became head of the MBA Tourism Management program at the JKU. In 2007, the branch office in Fürstenfeld in Styria was added.

Herta Neiß is a board member of the Austrian Camp Community Auschwitz in Remembrance, a member of the International Auschwitz Committee and from 2010 to 2022 chaired the Social Advisory Board for the redesign of the Austrian national exhibition at the Auschwitz Birkenau Poland Memorial for the Republic of Austria.

Herta Neiß was Curater of the Upper Austrian State Exhibition 2021 "Arbeit - Wohlstand - Macht" in Steyr together with Michael John and is curator of the Stadtmuseum Bad Ischl as part of the European Capital of Culture Salzkammergut 2024.