At the early age of 14, Chef Wells entered the culinary field working in a Jewish meat market as a stock boy. He worked his way up to the only non-Jewish job of slaughtering hogs.

At the age of 17, he enlisted in the United States Air Force and became a training candidate for the Army/Air Force butcher school and while in basic training, the military decided to close the butcher school. He was sent to Fort Lee, New Jersey Army Cook School to learn the art of mass feeding. His first station was at Boron Radar Station, Boron, California, as a first cook. Within 2 years he became the Mess Sergeant at the age of 19.

His first civil service job was as a cook/trainer for the United States Air Force Base in Rome, Niagara Falls and Plattsburgh, New York.

In 1972, he was recruited by the Greyhound Corp. to manage their college contract cafeterias in Vermont and New Hampshire. Shortly after, he was promoted to Junior Executive for Quality Assurance, responsible for the food operations contracted by Greyhound in their many umbrella corporations such as Restura, Greyhound Foods, Truck Stops and T Twiggs Restaurant and Bar.

He was then promoted to Food and Beverage Coordinator for Glacier Park Inc. where he was responsible for recruiting and training employees for Glacier Park free standing restaurants, hotels and snack bars located at Swift Current, Glacier Park East, West Glacier, Rising Sun, Many Glacier and Lake McDonald.

He left Greyhound Corp. in 1992 and at the young age of 48, enrolled at Oswego State University. Six years later he received his degree in Vocational Education. After a short time substitute teaching and working in adult education, he was hired to teach culinary/hospitality at Herkimer County BOCES. Wells states, "Teaching at Herkimer County BOCES has been the best ten years of my forty years in the Culinary/Hospitality Industry. ProStart was a big factor in making those ten years enjoyable. Using ProStart text books, quizzes, tests, workbooks and lesson plans, assisted me daily in making teaching enjoyable and for the students, learning made fun."

He added, "With the diversity of students in vocational education and state educational requirements, a certified program such as ProStart to integrate daily lessons in a structure for all students to easily comprehend is invaluable. The technologies used in the classroom today will only enhance the use of the ProStart Program. The possibilities are endless."

The NYSRAEF congratulates Tom Wells!