Markus Nölke was born in Bremerhaven in 1969. After completing his A-levels in economics, he began training as a forwarding agent at the international forwarding company Karl Gross in Bremen and Bremerhaven. Nölke gained his first professional experience at Panalpina Welttransport GmbH in Hamburg. This was followed by a degree in business administration at the German Foreign Trade and Transport Academy in Bremen, specializing in transport. He then worked for twelve years in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Bremen for the international forwarding company ATEGE, a subsidiary of the Swiss Gondrand Group.

From June 2010 to February 2024, Nölke was Managing Director of the ShortSeaShipping Inland Waterway Promotion Center, spc. This is a public-private partnership (PPP) funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and the federal states, associations, chambers and companies in the maritime and shipping industry. The task of the SPC is to promote the potential of inland and coastal waterways (short sea shipping) as part of multimodal transport chains. By shifting traffic to the waterways, one of the aims is to contribute to achieving the climate targets in the transport sector. The spc also develops logistics concepts, for example for the transportation of wind turbine components by inland waterway vessel. Nölke has been Managing Director of WAB e.V. since March 1, 2024. Nölke is married with a daughter and lives in Dohren, Lower Saxony, between Bremen and Hamburg.