Inspector General Advisory Board Announces First Inspector General for Howard County
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Isaiah Anderson, Executive Assistant
ianderson@howardcountymd.gov
(410) 313-2001
December 1, 2025
Inspector General Advisory Board Announces First Inspector General for Howard County
Ellicott City, MD – The Inspector General Advisory Board announced today that Kelly Madigan will serve as the first Inspector General of Howard County. Before accepting this position, Madigan served as the Inspector General for Baltimore County, a position she has held since January 2020. In her new position, Madigan will be tasked with setting up the newly formed Office of the Inspector General to provide increased oversight into County operations, and to investigate any claims of fraud, waste, and abuse in Howard County Government.
“I am beyond pleased that the Inspector General Advisory Board has chosen Ms. Madigan as the County’s very first Inspector General. The citizens of Howard County deserve to have someone so eminently qualified as Ms. Madigan to tackle fraud, waste and abuse. Those matters are now in very capable hands” said David Salem, Chair of the Inspector General Advisory Board.
Since becoming the Inspector General of Baltimore County in 2020, Madigan has led dozens of investigations that resulted in significant findings and meaningful change. Her reports have uncovered millions of dollars in fraud and policy violations, and her office has issued over 100 recommendations aimed at improving how government works. She also served as the Executive Director of the Baltimore County Ethics Commission, where she modernized the financial disclosure system and helped the county reach a 99-percent compliance rate from 2020 until July 2023.
Madigan is a Certified Inspector General and an attorney licensed in Maryland. Before becoming an Inspector General, she served as Acting State Prosecutor and Deputy State Prosecutor for Maryland, where she handled major cases involving corruption, bribery and election law violations. Earlier in her career, she worked as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Baltimore City, where she rose through the ranks to lead teams and handle complex criminal investigations. She was one of six Assistant State’s Attorneys selected to join a new Major Investigations Unit, where she was assigned a district and worked closely with law enforcement partners to make cases on violent repeat offenders.
"I am thrilled to be selected and excited for this opportunity. I look forward to creating an Inspector General office for the citizens of Howard County,” said Madigan.
A native of California, Madigan attended the University of Michigan and received her B.A. in History before moving to Maryland and attending the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she graduated magna cum laude, was a member of the Heuisler Honor Society and was the recipient of the Law Faculty Award upon graduation. Recently, she received the fraud fighter of the year from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner’s Maryland Chapter and was selected to serve on the Board of the Association of Inspectors General.