Meet Dylan Helmenstine
Dylan Helmenstine is a school board member, village board member, and former president of his local EMS district in Black Earth, Wisconsin. He holds a Master of Public Affairs from the UW-Madison Lafollette School of Public Affairs and has spent his career in public service and state government financial work. That work has included serving as a front-line pandemic response manager and a financial analyst and auditor for Wisconsin Medicaid programs. He is running for State Treasurer to bring transparency to government, fight for fair school funding, and protect the trust funds that support Wisconsin's public schools and universities.
Where Dylan Comes From
Dylan grew up in a small, rural Wisconsin community. His family is full of farmers, nurses, small business owners, and teachers. He attended the Wisconsin Heights School District, graduated from UW-Madison with a degree in Political Science and Economics, and earned his Master of Public Affairs from the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs. After graduate school, he returned to his hometown to give back to the community that set him up for success.
What Dylan Does
Dylan currently serves in many public roles at the local, regional, and state levels.
He is an elected school board member in the Wisconsin Heights School District, where he works through annual budgets, reviews district policy, and has seen firsthand how Wisconsin's broken funding system forces districts to choose between cutting programs and asking property taxpayers for more.
He is an elected village board member in Black Earth, where he chairs the Plan Commission and the Economic Development Committee.
He has been the elected president of the Dane County District 1 Emergency Medical Services Board, overseeing a critical public safety service for his community.
At the state level, he serves on the Teachers Retirement Board at the Department of Employee Trust Funds, where he reviews pension fund performance quarterly. He also serves on the Policy and Resolutions Committee at the Wisconsin Association of School Boards and the Board of Control at Cooperative Educational Service Agency 2.
Professional Experience
Before launching his campaign, Dylan spent three years as a Health Care Rate Analyst in the Division of Medicaid Services at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. In that role, he conducted audits, developed RFPs, performed financial analyses, and built databases and automation tools that gave the state new visibility into how Medicaid program dollars were being spent.
Before that, he served as an auditor intern in the Office of the Inspector General at DHS, where he audited Medicaid Long-Term Care programs and helped build a fraud, waste, and abuse tracking database that remains in use today.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dylan served as a Citizen Commander at the DHS PPE Warehouse, overseeing large-scale inventory operations and coordinating multiple teams during emergency response operations.
He also worked as a messenger for the Wisconsin State Senate Sergeant at Arms, a teaching assistant at UW-Madison, and a field lead intern on the 2018 Wisconsin Democrats Coordinated Campaign.
Education
B.A., Political Science and Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2021
Master of Public Affairs, Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs, UW-Madison, 2022
Coursework included state budgeting, program design, and cost-benefit analysis.
Why State Treasurer
Dylan is running for State Treasurer because he has seen from every angle how state systems and outdated laws hold back Wisconsin communities. As a school board member, he has watched districts struggle under funding formulas written in the 1970s. As a village trustee, he has dealt with the limits state law puts on local governments trying to serve their residents. As a state employee, he has built the tools that reveal where public money goes and where the gaps are.
The Treasurer's office sits at the intersection of public finance, education, and community investment. Dylan will use it to bring transparency to how the government works, fight for school funding that treats students and communities fairly and protect the trust fund assets that belong to every Wisconsin resident.
Endorsements
Dylan has earned endorsements from state legislators, school board members across multiple counties, county supervisors, municipal leaders, and community voices throughout Wisconsin.
Join the Campaign
Dylan is building a grassroots campaign powered by volunteers and small-dollar donors across Wisconsin. If you want a Treasurer who shows up, listens, and fights for the communities that make this state work, join us.
