Earl Stafford
American entrepreneur (1948 - )
- || At The Bottom
1990 -- For the family of Earl Stafford, the holiday was almost completely lacking in good cheer in December 1990. Stafford, who had founded an information technology company just two years before, had just lost the only two contracts he'd been able to secure. He had t been forced to lay off his entire staff, and his income had fallen to zero, almost literally overnight. His electric and phone bills were unpaid, and he was trying to figure out a way to explain to his children that he would be unable to buy them any Christmas presents. Two years before, everything had been going well for the 20-year Air Force veteran. After retiring from the service in 1988, he'd taken a good job with a company that provided personnel and aviation services to the Federal Aviation Administration. At the age of 40, he was moving into a comfortable second career as the founder of Universal Systems and Technology (UNITECH). But Earl Stafford was restless and decided after only a few months that he would launch his own company. His first two years brought a $300,000 subcontracting job to work on NASA's Hubble space telescope. Things were looking up for Stafford and UNITECH until problems with Hubble were discovered shortly after its launch in the spring of 1990. Though UNITECH had nothing to do with Hubble's flaws, Stafford -- along with scores of other contractors and subcontractors -- lost their contracts. By fall of that year, Stafford's only other contract was gone as well. Two years into his new career, Earl Stafford was broke.
- || At The Top
2006 -- A little more than 16 years after he'd fallen on his face as an entrepreneur, Earl Stafford had turned UNITECH into a $80 million company that employed more than 300 people who provided telecommunications and computer services to military agencies as well as private companies. By the mid-200s, UNITECH had become a leader in the development of simulation and training software; its projects included developing an M-16 simulator for the Navy and a Light Armored Vehicle simulator for the Marines. Recognized as one of the top African American executives in the United States, Earl Stafford also used his wealth and power within the black community to fund anti-drug efforts in Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia and elsewhere. In 2008, shortly after the election of Barack Obama, Stafford purchased a $1 million hotel package through Marriott and used it to bring wounded, disabled and terminally ill veterans to the January 2009 inauguration.
- || The Comeback
Even after losing all his contracts and shedding his entire staff, Earl Stafford refused to give up his entrepreneurial dream. He stubbornly and patiently sought new contracts and proved himself willing to do almost any kind of work in order to get his foot back in the door. His next contract, for example, required UNITECH to provide janitorial services in addition to consulting services for the very same company that had subcontracted work to UNITECH back in 1989. Now, however, Stafford was the only employee of UNITECH. And so he wore a suit during the day, attended meetings and worked with a variety of other professionals; at the end of the day, he waited until everyone had left, then changed into his work clothes and spent the rest of the evening straightening offices, cleaning up trash and making sure that copies of sensitive documents were disposed of. Stafford never told anyone that he was working on every part of the contract by himself; when the company that hired his services found out, they were impressed and soon afterward awarded him a $2.5 million contract that helped get UNITECH permanently back on its feet. Stafford's determination and flexibility had saved his company and allowed him to take a huge step closer to fulfilling his dream.
