Melvin Walter Kissling Gam (April 25, 1931 – January 28, 2002) was a Costa Rican businessman who became one of the first Central Americans to lead a Fortune 500 company.

During all of my infancy, one of very limited means, it was through my mother’s efforts that I was able to study and get ahead.”[1] Kissling graduated from Colegio Seminario in San José in 1948.

During his work at the hotel, he met a North American businessman who gave him 2 pamphlets and told him that if he learned them by heart he would hire him as a pharmaceutical sales representative.

At that time the company was a small business that fabricated the Protecto brand of paints in a workshop in Sabana Sur, San José.

Fuller in 1967, Kissling was appointed as vicepresident for Latin America, all the while maintaining his role as general manager at Kativo Chemical.

In 1997 he founded Asociación Empresarial para el Desarrollo a non profit organization that promotes Corporate Social Responsibility in Costa Rica.