“For me, it’s not just about the people we place; it’s about our reputation with the clients we serve,” says Sarah Fulton, co-owner of the Lee Group and president of staffing. “It’s just fun to win. It’s fun to see our folks find placements and achieve goals, because there’s always something more you could be doing to improve at this craft of recruiting.”
Across Virginia and the rest of the United States, with a tag line that reads, “We exist to align talent, grow businesses, and change lives,” the Lee Group connects job seekers with companies and clients looking for new talent. The company has become known as the Eastern Virginia area’s leading provider of staffing services.
“I came into [this field] because my dad asked me to help him,” Fulton remembers. “It’s really that simple.”
Graduating from James Madison University in 2007 turned out to be the same year her father, Walter Graham, purchased the Lee Group alongside Eric Kean after they both had been working there since the 1990s. Considering law school after her college graduation, Fulton became a legal assistant and fell in love with the man who would eventually become her husband.
“Throughout that entire time, I’d come and moonlight at the Lee Group,” Fulton says. She remembers leaving her 9 to 5 job and coming to the Lee Group to assist employees there with finding talent.
Graham encouraged his daughter to join him in business. “My dad took me to lunch and in between sandwich bites said to me, ‘Come work for me. I need somebody I can trust,’” Fulton recalls with a grin. She said yes!
Beginning in the sales department, she learned the excitement of the business, improving and growing, and on New Year’s Day 2025, Fulton became co-owner alongside business partner Wes Ashworth, president of executive search.
The Lee Group encompasses three office branches: Chesapeake (Fulton’s home base), Richmond and Newport News. The company works with more than 40 clients, searching for individuals in need of positions to positively affect those companies and entities — and vice versa.
For job seekers, the placement process at the Lee Group is not a one-size-fits-all situation. It begins with a phone call between the candidate and the Lee Group, before a face-to-face meeting. “From there, the placement process branches off,” Fulton says. These offshoots vary for each person and could include completing requirements such as professional assessments, pre-employment screenings and verifications before a job can be found. “Some jobs also require an interview at the client site.” Fulton emphasizes the positive impact finding the right person to hire can have on a team or workplace.
“We take every relationship, every connection seriously, Fulton says. “If the candidate can be transparent with us about what they want, we may not have a placement for them today, but we will eventually find a placement for them, if they’re just open to having a conversation with us.”
Speaking fondly of her husband and their two sons, Fulton says the family often spends time together at baseball and soccer games. Fulton herself also enjoys working out, often taking exercise classes.
Looking back on her career, “What has changed in business is the rate at which change [occurs],” Fulton says. “When I think about 2007–2019, there was change and progress all along the way, but it wasn’t exponential at the rate we’re experiencing changes now.” Despite this shift, she thinks that some of the company’s core principles — including viewing people as the most valuable asset in a business — will always be most important.
