Charlene D. Faison

Charlene D. Faison
Manager, Nuclear Licensing Programs
Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc.
White Plains, N.Y.

Charlene D. Faison, a Georgia native with more than 38 years of nuclear power plant experience, is the manager of nuclear licensing programs at Entergy Nuclear Operations. In her position, Faison is responsible for ensuring that the Indian Point Energy Center, located in Buchanan, N.Y., as well as Entergy’s 11 other nuclear plants in the North and the South of the country, meet the stringent federal regulatory requirements to provide electricity to their respective regions. Before joining Entergy, Faison worked in various capacities at the New York Power Authority and in the Power Generation Department at Consolidated Edison Company of New York. She learned through experience that strategic networking has a lot to do with how fast you succeed professionally. “People don’t know who you are or where you are if you are not networking,” she insists.

A successful career was not fulfilling enough for Faison. She yearned for a life of service to others. Although she already held a bachelor’s degree in radiological health science and an M.B.A. from Manhattan College, she obtained a certificate in Christian ministry and a master’s degree in divinity from the New York Theological Seminary and is currently enrolled in the seminary’s Doctor of Ministry Program. In addition to her full-time job with Entergy, Faison serves as an associate minister at the Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem, New York City. Her call to the ministry came more than a decade ago, she states. “I found the ‘what’s missing’ from my life and my real purpose, when I became a minister.”

Faison has received numerous awards, including the YWCA Award for Science from the White Plains YWCA and an award from the Yonkers YWCA. She was recognized by the New York YWCA as Woman of the Year.