The Fultz Group Where Wall Street meets Main Street
Press & Booking Kit

Most advisors left the shop floor years ago. We never did.

Steve and Melissa Fultz run a portfolio of East Tennessee companies rooted in a fuel-tanker business Steve's father started in 1964. Everything they teach was field-tested there first, with real customers and real consequences when they were wrong.

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Steve and Melissa Fultz
Why hosts book them

Two operators, not two coaches

The consultants don't fit your desk. The coaches don't survive your Tuesday. Steve and Melissa sit in a third seat that almost nobody occupies: they still own and run the companies, and they teach from inside them.

Steve grew the family business from $6 million to more than $10 million and now designs AI agents that work alongside his people. Melissa spent more than twenty years inside a Fortune-scale healthcare and automation company, where her most recent role contributed to more than $1.5 billion in revenue. She came home to build with Steve and brought the systems with her.

Where Wall Street meets Main Street. Corporate-grade systems, applied at family-business scale. That is the whole thesis, and it is the reason the advice survives contact with a real shop floor.

The principals

Steve & Melissa Fultz

They book as a team. Either can appear solo on request.

Steve Fultz, PhD

Steve Fultz, PhD

Co-Founder & CEO

Psychologist, operator, builder. A doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Tennessee, roughly four decades of operating experience, about 25 years on church staffs, and AI agents he built and deployed inside his own companies.

Melissa Huff Fultz

Melissa Huff Fultz

Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer

More than 25 years as a sales executive, marketing professional, and entrepreneur. Consultant of the Year, repeat member of the President's Club, national-conference speaker, and the subject of a 2017 Gartner white paper built around a toolkit she developed.

Copy and paste

Bios, three lengths

Intro read · 25 words

Steve and Melissa Fultz run real family companies and teach other owners to build businesses that no longer need them. Authors of The Owner Shift.

Standard · 60 words

Steve and Melissa Fultz are the husband-and-wife team behind The Fultz Group. Unusual among advisors, they still run the companies they teach from: a portfolio of East Tennessee businesses rooted in the fuel-tanker operation Steve's father started in 1964. Their book The Owner Shift helps married owners step out of the day-to-day without losing the marriage along the way.

Full · 165 words

Steve and Melissa Fultz are the husband-and-wife team behind The Fultz Group, the Knoxville advisory firm they founded in 2015 under the banner "Where Wall Street Meets Main Street."

They are unusual among business advisors in that they still run the companies they teach from. Steve is a second-generation co-owner of a portfolio of East Tennessee businesses rooted in the fuel-tanker operation his father, Pat Fultz, started in 1964, and he grew the family business from $6 million to more than $10 million. Melissa spent more than twenty years inside a Fortune-scale healthcare and automation company, where her most recent role contributed to more than $1.5 billion in revenue, and Gartner published a 2017 white paper built around a toolkit she developed.

Together they are the authors of The Owner Shift and Family Business Facelift. Their work centers on a blunt conviction: if the business gets fixed but the marriage doesn't, nothing has actually been helped.

Steve, solo · 70 words

Steve Fultz, PhD, sits where three worlds rarely meet: strategy, people, and technology. He holds a doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Tennessee, spent about 25 years on church staffs, and has roughly four decades of operating experience running family companies. He grew the family business from $6 million to more than $10 million, and now designs AI agents that handle repeatable work inside his own operations.

Melissa, solo · 70 words

Melissa Huff Fultz brings more than 25 years as a sales executive, marketing professional, and entrepreneur. Inside a Fortune-scale healthcare and automation company, her most recent role contributed to more than $1.5 billion in revenue. She is a Consultant of the Year winner, a repeat member of the Circle of Excellence and President's Club, a national-conference speaker, and the international best-selling author of The Art of Alignment.

The credibility engine

The companies behind the advice

What distinguishes The Fultz Group is that its principals are active operators, not retired advisors.

  • Post Leasing & SalesThe heritage business. An equipment marketplace descended from Pat Fultz's 1964 fuel truck and tanker operation.
  • Knox TrailersKnoxville-based dry-van sales, service, and repair.
  • Post OnsiteMobile and onsite petroleum-transport equipment repair.
  • PartsNow.aiThe one that's now live and in both app stores: an AI-native parts marketplace Steve co-founded, with the AI engine built by partner company TalkRev.ai, covered by the industry's own trade press.

Three generations now: daughter Sarah Fultz serves as Controller.

Segment-ready

What we can talk about

Each of these has been lived, not researched.

Where Wall Street meets Main Street

Why corporate frameworks fail at family-business scale, and what actually transfers down.

Running a company with your spouse

Two owners, one marriage, and the monthly meeting that keeps both intact.

Three generations in one business

A father's 1964 startup, a son who grew it, and a granddaughter now running the books. What actually passes down and what doesn't.

Becoming obsolete by design

The R.E.S.T. method: record the rules, empower the team, systematize the flow, test the trust.

AI inside an old-economy business

What happened when a fuel-tanker company started running AI agents alongside its people.

The corporate-to-family-business translation

Melissa on what twenty years at Fortune scale teaches you, and what you have to unlearn immediately.

For your prep doc

Suggested questions

Steal these, or ignore them entirely.

  1. You say the consultants don't fit the desk and the coaches don't survive Tuesday. What do you mean by that?
  2. Your father started the business in 1964 with fuel trucks. What did you inherit that wasn't on the balance sheet?
  3. Melissa, you spent twenty years at Fortune scale. What did you have to unlearn in the first month back?
  4. Steve, you have a doctorate in counseling psychology. What does that let you see in an owner that a consultant misses?
  5. You grew the business from $6 million to $10 million. What did that cost you personally?
  6. You run companies together and you're married. What breaks first?
  7. You built AI agents inside a fuel-tanker company. How does an owner who says "I'm not a tech person" even start?
  8. Your daughter is the Controller. How do you avoid the thing that kills most third-generation businesses?
  9. What's the one thing an owner should do Monday morning to start becoming unnecessary?
Coverage

Press & appearances

Podcast — Confronting Fear: A Deep Dive with Dr. Steve Fultz, PhD
Podcast

Confronting Fear: A Deep Dive with Dr. Steve Fultz, PhD

A conversation on fear, courage, and the decisions owners avoid. December 18, 2023

The Digital Slice — Helping Older Business Owners Embrace Technology
The Digital Slice

Helping Older Business Owners Embrace Technology

With Brad Friedman · February 27, 2026

The Empowered Network — Lesson from This Couple who Transformed Hundreds of Businesses
The Empowered Network

Lesson from This Couple who Transformed Hundreds of Businesses

The Empowered Entrepreneur · Season 2, Episode 6 · September 11, 2025

Founder Wisdom Podcast — Steve and Melissa Fultz
Founder Wisdom Podcast

Steve and Melissa Fultz

With Charles Cormier · August 7, 2025

The Julius Filez — The Transition from First to Second Generation in Business
The Julius Filez

The Transition from First to Second Generation in Business

Episode 93 with Jasan R. Julius · April 5, 2024

Our launch announcement was syndicated to 500+ outlets, including NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX affiliates. Additional podcast appearances are being added. Email us for a current list or a specific clip.

Four books

The written work

  • The Owner Shift (2026)From Bottleneck to Breakthrough: Becoming Obsolete by Design. With Melissa.
  • Family Business Facelift (2025)How AI and Automation Are Reshaping Traditional Business Through Technology. With Melissa, plus a Companion Workbook.
  • More Than Just a Website (2015)Steve. International best-seller.
  • The Art of Alignment (2015)Melissa. International best-seller.

The Owner Shift on Amazon

The Owner Shift cover
Downloads

Photos & assets

Right-click to save. Need print resolution or a different crop? Email us.

Steve and Melissa

Steve & Melissa

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In the office

In the office

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At home

At home

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Steve Fultz

Steve, solo

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Melissa Fultz

Melissa, solo

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The Owner Shift cover

Book cover

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For your listeners

Where to send people

Four doors. Listeners pick whichever one fits where they are right now.

Read the book

The Owner Shift, in paperback and Kindle.

Amazon

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Booking

Get in touch

We answer our own email. Tell us the show, the format, and roughly when, and we will come back to you quickly.

steveandmelissa@thefultzgroup.com

  • LocationKnoxville, East Tennessee. Available remote or in person.
  • FormatSteve and Melissa appear together by default. Either can appear solo on request.
  • Onlinethefultzgroup.com · theownershift.com · stevefultzphd.com · aiforfamilybusiness.com
  • LinkedIn/in/stevefultzphd · /in/melissahufffultz · /company/the-fultz-group

Download the press kit (PDF)

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