Raised on a cattle and wheat farm in Southwest Kansas, Eric Melgren was in the first generation of his family to attend college. He earned his undergraduate degree from Wichita State University, where he served as student body president. After college, he worked for a few years in business management before attending law school at Washburn University, where he was a member of the Law Review. He was a law clerk for Judge Frank Theis. For 15 years he was with the Wichita firm of Foulston & Siefkin where his practice focused on tax and business matters. In March 2002, President George W. Bush appointed Melgren United States Attorney for the District of Kansas. He served in that position until September 2008, when the U. S. Senate confirmed President Bush’s nomination of Melgren to the U.S. District Court in Kansas. He sits in the chambers where he clerked for Judge Theis. He has been active in the community, including serving as Chairman of the Board of the United Way of the Plains, Chairman of Leadership Wichita, and President of the Wichita State University Alumni Association. He has also served as President of the Wesley E. Brown Inn of Court, and President of the Federal Bar Association Chapter for the District of Kansas and Western Missouri. Judge Melgren also was appointed as the Tenth Circuit representative to the Defender Services Committee of the Judicial Conference for the United States.