Biography

Rep. Kestell and his wife LuAnne at Inauguration Day.

State Representative Steve Kestell grew up on a dairy farm in the Town of Lyndon in Sheboygan County. He is a graduate of Plymouth High School and is a full-time legislator. Prior to being elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly, Steve was a retail store manager and regional sales manager for a national tool company.

Representative Kestell is a member of the Sheboygan County Republican Party, the Calumet County Republican Party, and the Family Resource Center of Sheboygan County Board. He is a former member of the Howards Grove Jaycees, the Ada Volunteer Firefighters, a 4-H project leader, and a Junior Achievement volunteer instructor. He served on the Howards Grove School Board as a member from 1981-84 and from 1986-98, serving as president from 1995-98.

Representative Kestell currently serves as a member of the Wisconsin Historical Society Board of Curators, the Wisconsin Aerospace Authority Board, and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child Legislative Working Group. He is a former member of the Joint Committee on Finance (2007-08), former chair of the Assembly Committee on Children and Families (a position he held from 2001-06) and former vice-chair of the Committee on Family Law, the Committee on Education, and the Committee on Government Operations. Representative Kestell is the past chair of the Legislative Council Special Committee on Strengthening Wisconsin Families, past co-chair of the Legislative Council Special Committee on Relative Caregivers, and past member of the Special Committee on Adoption and Termination of Parental Rights. He is a past member of the Committee on Rural Development, the Committee on Agriculture, the Committee on Transportation, the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, the Governor’s Council on Highway Safety, and the Special Committee on Navigable Waters Recodification.

Steve Kestell was first elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1998, and has been re-elected by the people of the 27th Assembly District since 2000. Steve and his wife live in the Town of Herman and have three sons and four grandchildren.