Buffalo statues, pictures and art adorn the office of Sharon Hulce, who even carries a little stuffed buffalo in her purse.
They serve as reminders of her motto in both life and business: Be the buffalo.
“The buffalo is the only mammal that runs toward the storm,” says Hulce, president and CEO of Employment Resource Group in Appleton. “It knows if it runs toward the storm, it will get through it faster.”
Hulce has leaned on this mantra throughout her 30‑year career in executive search when facing challenges — like three recessions, 9/11 and a pandemic, to name a few.
“That’s just the definition of business — you’re going to have phenomenal wins and you’re going to have what will feel like catastrophic losses,” she says. “Celebrate the wins and run into the losses and get through them as fast as you can, so you can come out the other side and go back to celebrating.”
Since founding ERG in 1996, Hulce has built the firm by charging directly through adversity.
Hulce stumbled into the industry almost by accident — opening the Yellow Pages and cold‑calling Management Recruiters of Appleton. She was the first female construction recruiter in the country, and within six months she was national rookie of the year. “It just fit my personality,” she says.
Growing up on a dairy farm outside Tomah, Hulce says her father instilled in her a relentless drive and work ethic.
“I watched how hard my dad worked. It taught me you can have anything you want, as long as you’re willing to put in the time to work for it,” Hulce says.
ERG quickly became the Wisconsin expert in construction recruiting, but Hulce wanted to deepen her community engagement in the Fox Valley. She joined the Appleton Downtown Rotary and offered to find, pro bono, the brand‑new Fox Cities Performing Arts Center’s president.
Since then, Hulce has given away $7 million in pro bono work to nonprofit organizations such as Mosaic Family Health, New North, CASA of Brown County, Aspiro, Fox Valley Humane Association and Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region.
“That is just mind‑blowing to think of the people she’s helped place in our region to lead our most critical nonprofits,” says nominator Bridget O’Connor, who describes Hulce as “confident, direct, poised and not afraid to say what needs to be said.”
On average, 97% of placements stay at least three years, and Hulce says she has placed more than 200 people who have been in their careers for 20 years or more.
“Her work goes far beyond executive search,” says Travis Froze, president of First Business Bank’s Northeast Wisconsin market. “She is a true career architect, guiding individuals in the journey of life, in order to reignite passion and purpose, often not just affecting the individual, but the family behind them.”
With the help of her trusted leadership team, Hulce plans to triple the company in four years through organic growth and acquisitions.
Outside of work, Hulce is a travel enthusiast and made it a point to take regular trips with her daughter, Katie, growing up. Hulce is also a lover of fashion — she wore a gold Oscar de la Renta dress to Katie’s wedding last September. (“As my friends refer to it, it was my Super Bowl.”)
A national speaker, author and Titan 100 Hall of Fame honoree, Hulce reflects on ERG’s 25‑year evolution from a scrappy startup to a Forbes’ Best Executive Recruiting Firm six years running.
“I got a lot of juice left in the tank,” she says, “but every now and then [when I] stop to look where I started, I think, yeah, that’s pretty good.”
* Photograph by Shane Van Boxtel / Image Studios
