LEADERSHIP TEAM
Joel Owens
CEO
Joel Owens
Joel Owens has a 30-year track record of building companies with compelling client value propositions within the Data Center IT and Third Party Maintenance space. He founded QualTech Services Group (QSGI) in 1999 and in 2007 launched Top Gun Technology to provide maintenance support services for enterprise server, storage, and networking environments.
Since 2007, Joel and his team have delivered exponential gains for Fortune 500 enterprises, extended TPM 2.0™ services globally, and reimagined Data Center maintenance philosophy centering on transparency. Believing as business and IT leaders, “You deserve to understand the “how” behind achieving mission-critical stability.”
Joel’s day-to-day focus is leading his team’s execution of the Mission Critical Support Platform™ in order to facilitate consistent long-term client value.
As a veteran of the United States Air Force, Joel spends his time outside Top Gun supporting and assisting veterans through his non-profit organization.
He lives in Sunfish Lake, Minnesota with his wife and four sons.
Jamie Owens
President
Jamie Owens
With more than 28 years of experience in the IT hardware and maintenance industry, Jamie has served as the President of Top Gun Technology since 2010. Jamie is highly regarded as an industry “Top Gun” for his IBM zSystems global hardware trading and hands-on engineering involvement with all mainframe and attached peripherals which have resulted in a superior technological understanding of these systems.
Prior to joining Top Gun, Jamie was Vice President of Engineering for QualTech Services Group (QSGI), performing and managing mainframe configuration activities and responsible for maintenance service delivery for the mainframe.
Dianne Birtch
Chief Revenue Officer
Dianne Birtch
Dianne brings over 20 years of IT industry sales leadership, working directly for the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) as well as managing highly successful sales teams providing third-party maintenance, hardware, and services.
Dianne oversees the sales, marketing, and partner channel teams, ensuring our departments cohesively deliver the Top Gun TPM 2.0™ support model to the global marketplace.
Prior to joining Top Gun Technology, Dianne served as Sales Director of Global Strategic Accounts at SMS / Curvature from 2012-2021. Outside of work, Dianne is the trainer for her daughter’s hockey team and enjoys golf and paddle boarding.
Johnny Walker
Chief Solutions Officer
Johnny Walker
Johnny brings over twenty-five years of IT industry leadership, working directly for the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and managing highly successful sales teams providing third-party maintenance, hardware, and services.
Johnny is responsible for developing a range of out-of-the-box solutions based on the TPM™ 2.0 support platform. To accelerate the growth of Top Gun’s Mission-Critical Support Platform™, he will work closely with the CEO and the rest of the Executive Leadership team to define, develop, and deliver products and services to existing and prospective clients.
Before joining Top Gun Technology, Johnny held strategic roles ranging from EVP, Global Head of Technical Services and Solutions, and M&A at SMS / Curvature from 2008-2021. Outside of work, Johnny remains committed to enjoying the outdoors with his wife and son, various non-profit organizations, and an alpine race coach.
Craig Wilson
EVP of Engineering
Craig Wilson
Craig brings more than 35 years of senior technical experience within the Third-Party Maintenance industry to the Top Gun leadership team. Craig specializes in leading teams that develop and deliver Mission Critical Support Services for multi-OEM, multi-platform enterprise systems that are innovative, cost-effective, built with integrity, and designed for longevity.
Craig will be focusing on delivering global solutions that support next-generation technology capabilities to create long-term client value.
As Executive Vice President of Engineering at Top Gun Technology, Craig oversees all Global Technical Support Solutions for the company, including our L3 Senior Technical Support teams, Field Engineering teams, and our New Product & Remote Tools Development.
Craig resides in Hampstead, NC, with his wife, stepdaughter and their three horses and two dogs. When they find time, they enjoy boating and fishing on the intercoastal waterway.
Brian Kjera
EVP of Product Management
Brian Kjera
Brian has over 15 years of experience in our industry and is responsible for the pricing and required service delivery solutions for all current products that we support. Brian’s proven sales acumen and technical depth allows him to successfully interface with all levels of current and prospective clients. Internally, his leadership drives our Research and Development Council regarding all new products and support services.
Prior to Top Gun, Brian was a Product Manager at SMS/Curvature for many years where he helped develop product and service sales training, sales strategies and marketplace positioning for specified OEM’s and platforms.
Joel Shehadi
Joel brings over 20 years of leadership, business development, and data center management experience to TGT. His strong business acumen and keen sense of leveraging strategic insights allow him to partner proactively with clients and offer innovative solutions.
Joel is responsible for delivering results-oriented growth by utilizing his deep client insight and TPM 2.0™ global services to create game-changing results.
Most recently, Joel served as regional Vice President at SMS / Curvature from 2008 to 2021. In this role, Joel managed the Global Strategic Accounts service and support sales team.
He lives in Upstate New York and is married with two children. His passions include fishing in the Finger Lakes, skiing with his family, and boating.
Donna Pizarro
SVP of Storage & Transition Services
Donna Pizarro
With more than 30 years of experience in the IT industry as a leader in the storage market, Donna has joined Top Gun Technology recently as Sr Vice President of Storage Solutions. Donna is highly regarded as a Subject Matter Expert within the global storage market and brings with her a few decades of global hardware trading, solution selling, technical sales engineering within the 5 major OEMs, business management and entrepreneurship within the storage market.
Donna has business experience in creating, building and selling two companies in the past which specialized in storage solutions and holds technical and marketing certifications within the IBM midrange, IBM mainframe and Dell-EMC midrange storage products. Prior to entering the storage marketplace Donna’s background was in programming and software technical support. Donna has joined Top Gun Technology to expand Top Gun’s presence in the storage marketplace both in hardware and maintenance services.
Mamie Sheen
Mamie is responsible for the growth and execution of our indirect sales organization.
Over the past 20 years, Mamie has been recognized for meticulously solving client business problems, building collaborative teams and developing long-lasting relationships with clients and partners. She remains resolutely focused on helping our partners navigate the technology market efficiently and effectively in order to bring true costs savings and value to their clients by utilizing Top Gun Technology as their premier partner.
Mamie previously worked for Curvature and Mainline Systems where she developed her skills for creating solutions that offered compelling ROI’s to her clients.
Sarah Murphy
Controller & Human Resources
Sarah Murphy
Sarah plays a significant role within our organization as our Controller and Human Resources Coordinator.
In Sarah’s Controller role she oversees all financial and accounting activities. She is responsible for budget management, financial analysis, payroll, accounts payable, and financial reporting. In Sarah’s HR role, she works in conjunction with our executive management team to improve our policy and procedure compliance and the development and maintenance of our HR practices.
Prior to Top Gun, Sarah held the same roles with QualTech International and QSGI. Sarah resides in Apple Valley, Minnesota with her husband and two daughters.