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.
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.
Steve & Melissa Fultz
They book as a team. Either can appear solo on request.
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
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.
Bios, three lengths
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.
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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
Suggested questions
Steal these, or ignore them entirely.
- You say the consultants don't fit the desk and the coaches don't survive Tuesday. What do you mean by that?
- Your father started the business in 1964 with fuel trucks. What did you inherit that wasn't on the balance sheet?
- Melissa, you spent twenty years at Fortune scale. What did you have to unlearn in the first month back?
- Steve, you have a doctorate in counseling psychology. What does that let you see in an owner that a consultant misses?
- You grew the business from $6 million to $10 million. What did that cost you personally?
- You run companies together and you're married. What breaks first?
- You built AI agents inside a fuel-tanker company. How does an owner who says "I'm not a tech person" even start?
- Your daughter is the Controller. How do you avoid the thing that kills most third-generation businesses?
- What's the one thing an owner should do Monday morning to start becoming unnecessary?
Press & appearances
Confronting Fear: A Deep Dive with Dr. Steve Fultz, PhD
A conversation on fear, courage, and the decisions owners avoid. December 18, 2023
Helping Older Business Owners Embrace Technology
With Brad Friedman · February 27, 2026
Uncovering Hidden Millions: Tech and AI for Family Business Growth
October 2, 2025
Lesson from This Couple who Transformed Hundreds of Businesses
The Empowered Entrepreneur · Season 2, Episode 6 · September 11, 2025
Building Sustainable Family Businesses with Steve and Melissa Fultz
August 21, 2025
The Transition from First to Second Generation in Business
Episode 93 with Jasan R. Julius · April 5, 2024
The Fultz Group Launches Initiative to Bridge the AI Gap for Gen X Business Owners
May 17, 2025
Family Business Facelift: A Revolutionary Approach for Family Businesses
May 30, 2025
From Family Business to Future-Ready: Lessons in Leadership with Steve and Melissa Fultz
Interview by Martin Rowinski · June 19, 2025 · watch the video
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.
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.
Where to send people
Four doors. Listeners pick whichever one fits where they are right now.
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










