Ambassador Melissa Wells, of Salisbury, Connecticut, was born in Tallinn, Estonia on November 18, 1932. She is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, with the rank of Career Minister.

Ambassador Wells has served as United States Ambassador to Zaire (1991-1993), to Mozambique (1987-1990), and to Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (1976-1977). On a secondment from the U.S. Department of State to the United Nations, Ambassador Wells served as United Nations Under Secretary-General for Administration and Management (1993-1994). From 1977-1979, she served at the United States Mission to the United Nations as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

During her Foreign Service career, Ambassador Wells also had two assignments in Brazil and served in France, the United Kingdom, Trinidad and Tobago, Switzerland, and Uganda. In Washington, Ambassador Wells has served as Deputy Director of the Major Export Projects Division of the United States Department of Commerce (1973-1975), and as Chief of the Business Relations Branch of the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs of the United States Department of State (1972-1973).

Ambassador Wells received a B.S. degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1956. She speaks French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Ambassador Wells was married to Alfred W. Wells, a retired architect, until his death in 2014. They had two sons together.