Meet Sharlene Wells

From Utah’s Miss America, to an Emmy-nominated ESPN sportscaster, to leading communications inside the Pentagon, Sharlene Wells is a PR and Communications trailblazer. She was one of the first women on ESPN, covering sports for nearly 20 years and earning an Emmy nomination and the Miller Lite Womens Sports Journalism award. She covered World Cup Soccer, World Cup Skiing, Kentucky Derby, the French Open, America’s Cup, was a feature reporter and host with College Gameday, and Big 10 Football sidelines.  

Later, her career shifted to running a production and publication company (RMS Productions) working primarily in partnership with the Department of Defense to produce major commemorative documentaries and books for the Korean War 60^th , Vietnam 50^th and Desert Storm 25th Commemorations, as well as hundreds of unit historical records. Her recognized work led to her appointment by the Secretary of Defense to the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services, earning her the Secretary’s “Medal for Exceptional Public Service” in 2018.   Sharlene later worked inside the Pentagon as the Director of Communications for the largest HR department in the country—the DOD Office of Personnel—responsible for over 6 million service members, their families and DOD civilians.

Today, Sharlene is back in Utah as the Senior Vice President over Public Relations and Organizational Communications for one of the largest credit unions in the country, Mountain America Credit Union.  In 2024, Utah Business magazine named her as one of their “Women of the Year”, and Ragan Communications listed her as a national “trailblazer” in their “Top Women in Communications” awards program.  Sharlene holds a bachelor’s degree from BYU in Broadcast Journalism, and a master’s degree from University of Utah in Organizational Communications.  She serves as a board member for the AMAR International board based in London, the Utah Symphony/Utah Opera, USO Intermountain Advisory Council, Tuacahn Board, and serves as Chair of the Utah Fraud Prevention Coalition.  She has four children, three granddaughters, and is passionate about traveling, hiking, biking and most especially, being with her family!