Jon DeFina obtained a degree in Computer Science and in 1979, began his career as a Field Engineer for Data General, one of the nation’s largest Main Frame computer companies at that time. During his tenor at Data General, Jon received intensive formal training and developed the required skills to troubleshoot and repair the company’s entire product line. He was quickly promoted to Field Tech Support, where he was called in to technically support Field Engineers needing assistance.
By late 1981, Jon’s experience led him to an opportunity in the ATE (Automated Test Equipment) industry, as an Atlas Diagnostic Programmer at Singer Librascope. This required design and implementation of Military test software for the Army and Navy. Here Jon successfully obtained customer acceptance for a variety of test programs he developed, which were to be used to help diagnose system failures on computers used during combat (ie; ASAS – All Source Analysis System).
In 1983, Jon made the transition back to the business computer sector and assumed a role as Test Engineer for a Disk Drive equipment company, Cambrian Systems. During his 7+ years at Cambrian, Jon worked around the globe with Disk Drive Manufactures in a joint effort to design state of the art Disk Drives for high data storage. Specifically, Jon was the engineering liaison between the Disk Drive Manufactures and Cambrian to facilitate design of Servo Track Writing and Media Certification equipment used to make Disk Drives.. The company quickly recognized Jon’s ability to work well with Engineering and Business management alike and promoted him to Sales Engineer, where he was responsible for more than $10M in annual sales (roughly 70% of the company’s gross revenue).
As the years progressed, Jon’s career focus covered three key areas of expertise; engineering, sales and service. In the early 90’s, he again worked as an ATE Programmer, writing Atlas programs for the U.S. Airforce, Navy and NASA. During this time, he retained a secret clearance and was called upon frequently to present his conceptual designs to various Military customers.
In 1992, Military funding started to slow and Jon once again obtained new employment as a Sales Director for a 3rd Party Repair and Logistics company. There, Jon successfully built strategic relationships with Laptop Manufactures and Integrators and learned to how to negotiate large service contracts; mainly with major Laptop companies around the world.
By 1994, Jon had built significant relationships in the Laptop market and it was then that he discovered that there was no repair solution for Laptop Displays. After some review of the failure rate of these new LCD’s, Jon decided to start his own company to specialize in Display repair and to first focus on the defective Displays being returned to the Laptop OEM’s. Essentially, Jon quickly realized that he had discovered a niche, untapped market that was about to become a world wide demand. So, in March of 1995, Jon formed his first company, Incline Corporation and began developing the required equipment, tooling and process required to capture the market share of displays being replaced. Incline overnight became the leader in LCD Repair. Within a few short years, Jon and his team had 80+ employees, established service contracts with Toshiba, H.P. , Dell Computer and others, and the company continued to grow. By 1998 the company was acquired for $13M. Jon was asked to stay on as CEO/President and grew the company to $26M annually. Incline employed over 475 employees and opened 5 additional facilities around the world. The company again experienced two more acquisitions during Jon’s tenor and continued to prosper. Content with the achievement of his first venture, Jon decided to resign from his position in 2003, knowing it was time to pursue the next challenge.
In 2005, Jon again formed a second company, Momentum which was made up of key engineering, operations and management personnel from his prior company, Incline. The company quickly tooled up to support Fujitsu, Hitachi and Sony made Plasma TV’s, as this new market was growing at a very rapid pace. The strategic relationships Jon built from the past facilitated immediate business for Momentum and ultimately provided them a smooth ramp up to profitability. However, by 2012 the Plasma and Consumer LCD market started to fade and Momentum was faced with the difficult task of taking Momentum in a different direction. Jon and his team quickly built the infrastructure to support the Avionics market, servicing Cockpit and In-Flight Entertainment Displays. The company obtained its FAA Certification in early 2016 and had already cultivated customers needing F16/F18 Display support. Through his team’s commitment and vast experience, Momentum rapidly became the standard for Avionics LCD Repair. Contractual programs were developed with OEM’s like Thales, Panasonic and a variety MRO’s, nationwide.
Finally, Jon’s dedication and belief in what Momentum was doing was realized in 2019 when the company was acquired by PAG, giving Jon and his team the support needed to take their Avionics LCD Service to the next level. Success, continues at Momentum (dba; Precision Display Repair) as the company works within PAG’s large umbrella of capabilities and Avionics partners around the globe. Jon himself, has continued his quest to oversee growth in Display Service, while enjoying the strong backing of his parent company, PAG.
Contact Jon Defina: +1 805. 384.1805 | jdefina@pdr-pag.com