James Howard is the current Chair of the Board of Directors at One City Schools and a retired economist with over four decades of service to the U.S. Forest Service and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Howard earned a B.A. in Economics and a master’s in Agribusiness Economics from UW–Madison.

Howard joined the Forest Products Laboratory in 1974, contributing to critical economic research. He succeeded former Madison Police Chief Noble Wray as One City’s Board Chair and continues to guide the organization’s educational mission and expansion.