LADIES' GALLERY

Janet Howard served one term in the Ohio Senate as the first African-American woman to hold a seat in the Senate from the Republican Party. Prior to her election to the Ohio General Assembly, Janet Howard worked in the marketing division of an oil company, served as a bailiff for the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, and worked on economic development projects for low-income neighborhoods.

Howard's community service and civic-association activity includes the Beechwood Elementary Parent Teacher Association, Forest Park Community Forum, Winton Woods School Advisory Council, Hamilton County Human Services Advisory Board, and the Greenhills-Forest Park Kiwanis. She had been active in the Republican Party as the activity director for the Forest Park Republican Club and board member of the Hamilton County Women's Club, and member and past officer in the Hamilton County Republican Party.

She served as a member of the First Council of Republican Women Advisors to Congress and the National Federation of Republican Women. She also served on the Forest Park City Council prior to her election to the Senate. Howard was awarded a fellowship to the Bowhay Institute of Legislative Leadership Development at the University of Wisconsin La Follette Institute for Public Affairs. Janet Howard was also named Woman of the Year by the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority in 1995.

Biography courtesy of the Ohio Women's Policy and Research Commission