Herst, Charlene

Charlene, née Friedkin, Herst was born in 1946. When she was eight years old, she moved to Las Vegas in 1954 with her parents Patricia and Richard Friedkin.

Charlene raised four children (Hayley, Rochelle, Tracey and Harry) as a single mother, graduated from UNLV in 1995 with a communications degree, and managed to build a career that touched the well-being of the Nevada population in many ways.

For over a decade she worked for Channel 3 and helped develop such campaigns as Baby Your Baby and Smoking Stinks. The next few years were with Sierra Health Services.

Then in 2001, Charlene started her career in state government as the Nevada State Health Division’s Manager of the Tobacco Program. She was instrumental in the implementation of the Nevada Clean Indoor Act (2006).

She was promoted to Health Program Manager II of the Chronic Disease Program (2006) and the to Health Program Manager II at the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Agency as Prevention Supervisor. Upon her retirement on October 10, 2014, Governor Brian Sandoval officially proclaimed the day in honor of Charlene Herst for her thirteen years of leadership and accomplishments.

During retirement, she has become active in the Las Vegas community, a member of Nevadans for the Common Good, among other undertakings.