Biography of
Barry Herr
Candidate for Nevada State Controller 2010
Barry Herr has resided in the state of Nevada for twenty years, so most of his friends and associates consider him a Nevada native. From the moment Barry established roots in Las Vegas in 1990 he took advantage of the many opportunities presented to him. Barry brought to Las Vegas over sixteen years of previous business experience in areas such as financial accounting, cost accounting, international accounting, and business management. While working full time for McGladrey & Pullen, an international CPA firm, he earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from UNLV. Shortly thereafter, he became a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the State of Nevada. Barry is currently President of the Las Vegas Chapter of the Nevada Society of CPAs, member of the American Institute of CPAs, member of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, member of Toastmasters of America, former Treasurer of the Rancho Las Palmas Homeowners Association and a former Adjunct Professor at UNLV.
As Barry was building his career his lifelong interest in politics also grew. Observing the economic climate locally and nationally inspired him to become active with the County and State Republican Party. He has been a regular volunteer for County and State, offering his expertise wherever he volunteers. Being a member of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, Barry has gained much experience and knowledge of the local and state economy. Barry’s career path, his education and his volunteer spirit makes the office of State Controller a perfect fit for him and for the State of Nevada.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Barry’s career began out of high school and, at the ripe old age of twenty years, he became a manager with Kinney Shoe Corporation. Barry’s goal after graduating high school was to attend college, however at eighteen years old his father passed away and Barry chose to help his mother and work full time instead. After a few years Barry decided to follow his brothers and sisters to California where he became a store manager with Thom McAn Shoes. After Thom McAn Shoes, Barry began his accounting career with IMODCO, Inc., an international engineering and construction company in the oil industry, as a staff accountant while pursuing an accounting degree in the evenings. In 1984 Barry earned his Associates Degree from Valley College in Van Nuys, California. During that period of time he also married Ellen Rudnick and had a daughter, Sara. Barry continued his education at Long Beach State University and in 1988 decided to move his young family back to New Jersey. While spending a few years in New Jersey, Barry worked for Marply, Inc. as an Assistant Controller, acquiring experience as a controller of an established manufacturing firm. As the recession hit the east coast, the Herr family decided to head west to Las Vegas, where his wife, Ellen’s parents had retired many years earlier.
Upon arriving in Las Vegas in 1990 Barry immediately pursued his education at UNLV and finally walked down the aisle at the Thomas & Mack with diploma in hand in May, 2000, with his 83 year old mother witnessing his lifelong goal of finishing his education. His parents were first generation U.S. citizens and blue collar workers who raised five children in the Bronx, New York and New Jersey. Barry desired a more prosperous life for himself and believed that education would be one important key to economic success.
Because education is so important to Barry, he instilled this belief in his daughter Sara as she also completed her degree in Secondary Education from The University of Nevada Reno. Sara currently resides in Encino, California with her husband Matthew, a graduate from Hunter College in New York with a degree in film. He is currently planning to return to college and earn a degree in Education as well.
Barry received many opportunities in Nevada and he now wants to give back and help the state recover from its economic crisis. Barry is a fiscal conservative and believes that his experience in the private sector along with his educational background can help Nevada once again become the prosperous state it once was through diversity of industry, low taxation, keeping Nevada free of state income taxes and being ethically and fiscally responsible to the many Nevada residents born here, raised here and those who have, adopted Nevada as their home.
