Together with his wife Betty, John Barfield formed the first of many companies, Barfield Cleaning Company, located in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1954. The Barfields sold the company in 1969 to International Telephone and Telegraph Company. John went on to form and sell several additional businesses, including Barfield Building Maintenance Company (acquired by Unified Building Maintenance Services, Inc.) and Barfield Manufacturing Company (sold to Masco Tech Industries). In 1977, he incorporated John Barfield & Associates to provide technical staffing services to the Big Three automakers. In 1981 he turned it over to his son Jon, changing the name to The Bartech Group in 1984. The company became one of the nation’s first minority-owned and operated firms specializing in technical staffing. Today, under the leadership of the Barfields’ other son Dave, Bartech is an industry-leading professional services firm managing more than 26,000 workers daily and billing over $2.5 billion in annualized spend. #BHM18 #Day14 #BlackPowerCouples