Melissa Francis is the co-anchor of The Call (M-F, 11am-12pm ET).

Previously, she was the energy reporter for CNBC, covering issues surrounding energy including oil and gasoline pricing, supply-and-demand and the large corporations behind these issues.

 

Before joining CNBC, Francis served as a correspondent for CNET where she covered finance, technology and consumer products.

Previously, Francis worked in Hartford, Conn, Edison, N.J., Providence, R.I., Portland, Maine and Manchester, N.H.

Francis earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Harvard University where she also served as executive editor of the Harvard College Economist Magazine. She was captain of the Harvard Polo Team.

Prior to being a business news reporter, Melissa was a child actor. She’s appeared in nearly 100 commercials (starting with Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo at 6 months old). She is best known for her role as Cassandra Cooper Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie. She had several other television appearances during the 1980s, most notably St. Elsewhere. She is supposedly inspiration for the fictional character Avery Jessup, a character which she conceived, in the show 30 Rock.