Wende Mengesha, an Ethiopian, is a Maize Postdoctoral Fellow. He earned a BSc degree in Agriculture, Plant Science from Alemaya University of Agriculture in 1996, an MSc degree in Plant Breeding / Agriculture from the University of Free State, South Africa in 2003, and a PhD in Plant Breeding from the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa in 2014.

Prior to this appointment, Wende was a maize breeder and breeding / genetics division head at the Ethiopian Institute of Agriculture Research, Bako National Maize Research project from 1997 to 2009. He was also a junior researcher at the Oromia Research Institute from 1996 to 1997.