Biography

 

Senator Howard Marklein

State Senator Howard Marklein was first elected to the Wisconsin Legislature in 2010 as a State Representative. After serving two terms in the State Assembly, he was elected to the State Senate in 2014.  Howard is currently serving his second term as a State Senator for the 17th Senate District after re-election in 2018.

During his time in the State Assembly, Howard served as the Chair of the Assembly Committee on Ways & Means and the Vice-Chair of the Joint Audit Committee.

Howard was appointed Co-Chair of the legislature’s budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance (JFC) for the 2021-22 session. He has served as a member of this committee for four sessions.

In addition to the JFC, he currently serves on the:

  • Senate Committee on Agriculture and Tourism (Vice-Chair)
  • Joint Committee on Employment Relations
  • Joint Legislative Audit Committee
  • Joint Legislative Council

He has also been appointed to the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority Board of Directors.

Howard was raised on a dairy farm in rural Spring Green.  He is married to Peggy, a registered nurse. Howard has two children and three stepchildren, as well as six grandchildren.

He graduated from River Valley High School in Spring Green in 1972 and is an alumnus of UW-Whitewater (’76), where he received a BBA in Accounting. After graduating college, Howard began his accounting career at First Wisconsin National Bank (now US Bank). In 1978, he was recruited by Virchow Krause (now Baker Tilly) and began his public accounting career in the Dodgeville office.

Howard accepted a promotion and transfer to the Whitewater and Fort Atkinson offices of Virchow Krause in 1980. He was promoted to partner in the firm in 1984.

Howard is a member of St. John’s Catholic Church, Spring Green (finance committee member), the Sauk County Farm Bureau (member) and the National Rifle Association (member).

He is a former member of the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater National Alumni Association (president), University of Wisconsin–Whitewater Foundation (board of directors president), Fort HealthCare Board of Directors (chair, treasurer), Fort Atkinson Rotary Club (president), Fort Atkinson Chamber of Commerce (president), Whitewater Chamber of Commerce (president), Dodgeville Chamber of Commerce (vice president) and Taliesin Preservation Inc. (treasurer).